Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id IAA09725; Mon, 13 Jan 1997 08:28:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 08:28:59 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199701131328.IAA09725@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #9 TELECOM Digest Mon, 13 Jan 97 08:29:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 9 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Ameritech, the ISP (Tad Cook) Controversy Over Telephone Privatization in El Salvador (Nigel Allen) Book Review: "Cultural Treasures of the Internet" by Clark (Rob Slade) Tennesee CellOne Introduces "USA Local" (Stanley Cline) Codec in 96 port SLIC (Dave Harrison) Re: Cellular Billing for Business/Personal Use (Juha Veijalainen) Re: Cellular Billing for Business/Personal Use (Jay R. Ashworth) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Ameritech, the ISP Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 01:40:24 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Chicago Tribune Binary Beat Column By James Coates, Chicago Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 12--AMERITECH AIMS TO EASE SURFERS' ACCESS TO NET: My son was in a bit of a testy mood the other night when I told him that this week's column would focus on Ameritech's new scheme to use its huge resources to become an Internet service provider for home and small-business customers. That Ameritech this week will start selling flat-rate, untimed Internet access at $20 per month is big news on the binary beat, even though we've known it was only a matter of time before it happened, I told my second-born. He said that he was tired of thinking about computers, tired of talking about computers and above all, tired of messing around with computers that don't work as promised. He said he had been trying to sign on to America Online for several hours and mostly he got busy signals. Even when he got on, he said, the service kept hanging up on him. I replied that my news about Ameritech deciding to go up against AOL as a seller of on-line connectivity should be of particular interest to legions of other people getting a bellyful of America Online "busies." That's what Steve Case, AOL's chief executive, calls them, "busies." Ameritech is, after all, The Phone Company, since it provides local service to Illinois and four other Midwestern sates. That means it has a huge leg up on competitors because it owns the bulk of the equipment that others supplying Internet connectivity must acquire before they can start signing up customers. In tests with pre-release Windows 95 versions of the Ameritech software, I was impressed by its ease of use and by the phone company's efforts to make the package both friendly to families with small children and yet a powerful tool for adults. The service includes the highly effective CyberPatrol software designed to shield children from offensive material on Internet newsgroups and on the World Wide Web. Adults, however, get full access to all newsgroups and all Web sites, company spokesmen assured me. The Ameritech software comes with the Netscape 2.02 Web browser, but I found that it worked extremely well with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Eudora Pro 3.0 and other 32-bit connectivity software as well. A Mac version will come later this year, the company said. The software is available at www.ameritech.net or 800-638-8775. Ameritech officials say they have carefully crafted a business plan: Ameritech will use its local telephone equipment to let people dial into modems and computers maintained by Ameritech. Those computers will provide storage for e-mail and postings for newsgroups as well as the content of personal World Wide Web home pages each customer will be able to create and post using templates supplied by Ameritech. I found it a snap to set up the limited Web pages the service offers. Keep in mind that all Ameritech is offering is a window on the Internet and e-mail. You don't get any of the massive content of an on-line service such as CompuServe, Prodigy, the Microsoft Network or America Online. Ameritech merely sells you a line into the Internet and browser software that lets you find your own way to content like that without much of a road map. The main thing the company is selling is a claim that it can put you onto the Net more efficiently and painlessly than can the competition. Ameritech, I told my son, promises that a new era of cheap, reliable, fast and easy-to-use Internet access is about to sweep the megalopolis that comprises area codes 312, 773, 847, 708, 630 and 815. "Yeah," said the potential scion of the Coates estates, "like America (expletive deleted) Online." The lad is old enough to vote, so there was little point in correcting his usage. Besides, he has a point in being skeptical about promises for mass- marketed Internet schemes in light of the situation one encounters trying to get America Online to work during prime time. Between 8 p.m. and midnight, which is how AOL defines its own rush period, "busies" and sudden disconnects remain rampant, company officials acknowledge. They say, of course, that they'll soon have things fixed good as new, but meanwhile, we're all in for a bit of a rough patch. "Let's see if I've got this straight," my son said to me. "I used to spend about $20 per month when AOL cost $10 for the first five hours and then $3 per hour above that. So AOL got my money and I got on-line, used up my 10 bucks and then ran up about 10 more dollars worth of time at $3 per hour. "Now they set a flat rate of $20 and that made so many other people sign up that I can't get on-line anymore. So I'm still paying AOL $20 a month, but now I'm not getting on-line." "In other words," he added, "I get much less and AOL gets much more. Phooey." Actually, he didn't say phooey. That's far too weak a word not only for him but for a fairly large number of readers I continue to hear from with angry complaints about AOL's perpetual gridlock problems. Case, the founder of AOL as well as its CEO, has been promising that things will get better soon, but, quite frankly, those promises by Case are getting pretty old. For several years now, people have been complaining about AOL being hard to reach and about the service's software having a dismaying tendency to hang up on customers during times when the service is swamped. And each time one of these gluts hits, Case issues one of his "Letters from Steve Case" promising that AOL is in the process of adding capacity. He has kept his word every time, too. Each time AOL's technical side fixes the problem by adding still more hardware. Then, the company's slick marketing operation kicks in to bring it still more customers, creating the same old gridlock problems again. Case explained in his latest letter to subscribers, "We are certainly pleased to be offering you unlimited-use pricing, but we're working around the clock to keep up with the demand it is creating.... This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, as there are lead times to install telephone circuits and to build the necessary hardware." Valeri Marks, Ameritech's director of Internet marketing, focused on the AOL gridlock problem from the get-go when she dropped by last week to discuss the plan to turn the Midwest's preeminent Baby Bell into an Internet service provider. She said the Internet subsidiary will go head to head with America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp., CompuServe Inc., Prodigy Services Inc., AT&T, MCI and a raft of other companies that offer Internet connectivity. I need to add that I tested the Ameritech package under optimal conditions when only a handful of beta testers were signed up. It remains to be seen what will happen if Ameritech starts luring large numbers of customers -- as has America Online. Because of regulatory requirements, Ameritech has retained the huge Internet provider UUNET Inc. to serve as its hook from local Ameritech networks to high-speed long-distance lines. UUNET does this same service for the Microsoft Network and other Ameritech competitors here. Marks pledged that Ameritech will make certain that its customers are spared gridlock by adding equipment as needed, no matter how much it takes. She declined, however, to discuss such key details as how many modems are available right now and how many can be added. That is proprietary information, she said. But hey, if you can't trust The Phone Company, who can you trust? And, if Ameritech doesn't deliver, there's always America Online. Binary Beat readers can participate in the column at www.chicago.tribune.com/tech or e-mail jcoates(at)ameritech.net. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 18:39:28 EST Subject: Controversy Over Telephone Privatization in El Salvador From: ndallen@io.org (Nigel Allen) Organization: Allen Telecom, 8 Silver Ave., Toronto ON M6R 1X8, Canada (forwarded from the labr.global conference on PeaceNet) ** Topic: DEFEND SALVADORAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION ** CISPES ACTION ALERT Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador January 8, 1997 SAVE UNIONS AND RIGHTS AS PHONE COMPANY PRIVATIZES On November 28, 1996, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly passed a law to privatize ANTEL, the national telecommunications company, ANTEL. The law was passed with a minimum of debate and votes, in the face of massive public opposition. All of the opposition political parties voted against the privatization. In protest, the ANTEL unions called a nationwide work stoppage, and held a march and vigil in the capital. Further protests are being planned, and lawsuits are challenging the constitutionality of the privatization. The new privatization law will hurt workers and consumers alike. Workers risk losing their unions and their jobs in one of the few decent-paid sectors of the economy. Consumers, especially peasants, risk losing the limited public phone access they have, while rates could increase nationwide, further limiting who is able to use the phone system. A few rich families will benefit as this public property is sold at bargain-basement prices. Pressure is needed to start negotiations between the unions and the government. The government has been offering workers wonderful presents in the media, but there is no firm agreement to make sure that ANTEL's workers actually get anything. Specific demands of the workers are: + five years' job security + the right to keep and form unions + financing for workers to buy 10% of the shares of the company, at realistic prices (discounted from market defined rates) + severance pay for those workers laid off in the privatization process. International support and pressure are necessary in order to guarantee justice for the workers. A key international player in the privatization of the Salvadoran telecommunications company has been the Inter-American Development Bank, which has provided 2 loans, one in 1992 and another in 1994 to finance this privatization. (See additional sheet with Background information). (see next page) REQUESTED ACTION: Fax the people listed below, and urge: 1 - that the Salvadoran government name a high-level commission to discuss the above points, and 2 - that the workers' proposals and their rights be taken into account, instead of simply imposing the government's proposal. The government should sit down with the unions and negotiate the terms of privatization. Messages in English should be sent to: Ronald Scheman, US Executive Director to the Inter-American Development Bank, fax: 202-623-3612; phone: 202-623-1031 John Dawson, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy in El Salvador 011-503-278-6011 Messages in Spanish (note draft text in Spanish below) should be sent to: Sr. Alfredo Mena Lagos, Presidential Modernization Commissioner fax #: 011-503-271-4461 If you hold a title in a union, religious or community organization, or an elected office, please use your title and letterhead. *** SAMPLE MESSAGE IN SPANISH *** Estimado Sr. Mena Lagos: Estoy muy preocupado(a) por la situacion de los trabajadores de ANTEL dentro del proceso actual de privatizacion de dicha institucion. Por el hecho de que la privatizacion va a afectar negativamente a la poblacion rural, y tambien a la estabilidad laboral de los trabajadores de ANTEL, fuertemente sugero que se nombre una Comision de alto nivel para discutir los siguientes puntos: G Estabilidad Laboral y Prestaciones Sociales G Indemnizacion G Financiamiento para la adquisicion de acciones para los trabajadores G Fijacion del valor de adquisicion de las acciones. Ademas quiero destacar la importancia de la inclusion y participacion de los trabajadores afectados en todos aspectos de este proceso de privatizacion. La existencia y participacion completa de sindicatos independientes en procesos como esto es un buen ejemplo del proceso democratico en El Salvador. Voy a seguir pendiente sobre esta situacion. Gracias por su atencion. Sinceramente, BACKGROUND: ANTEL's unions have been fighting privatization for years. They have reached out to farmers, community residents, and others, and succeeded in turning public opinion against the sale of the Salvadoran phone company. 57% opposed it in a Gallup poll this summer. Even though the ruling ARENA Party just pushed a privatization law through the legislature, it may be possible to win what the ANTEL unions are demanding -- because ARENA is in a bind. They are trying to carry off a complicated and very unpopular privatization in the next few months while the election campaign is at its height. ANTEL management has already published newspaper ads which show they want to soften the political cost of privatizing. They are vulnerable to bad publicity. The timing of this privatization also shows ARENA's vulnerability. They are rushing to finish the privatization before May 1, when the new Legislative Assembly takes office. ARENA could lose seats in the upcoming March 16 elections, and does not want to take chances with privatization, which is expected to enrich ARENA Party leaders enormously. On the other hand, they don't want to privatize before the March 19 elections. So the actual privatization is supposed to occur on April 4 -- after the elections end, but before the new Assembly can take office (and, with a potentially larger FMLN delegation, amend the privatization law). What all this means is that pressure now should win results. The ANTEL unions report that most of their members are ready for strikes and demonstrations, if necessary. ASTTEL and the FMLN are also challenging the constitutionality of the privatization law, but don't hold your breath; that legal strategy was tried last December, and succeeded in getting the Supreme Court to annul the layoff of 14,000 state workers, but the Assembly promptly passed a new "constitutional" law which laid off the workers anyway. This privatization is a test case. Several important privatizations will probably follow this year. In its last session of 1996, at 2 a.m., the Legislative Assembly passed laws privatizing social security and electricity. Presidential privatization commissioner Alfredo Mena Lagos called 1997 "the year of privatization." And 26 Salvadoran unions have formed a new coalition to fight structural adjustment, especially privatization. A larger struggle is shaping up. The terms which ANTEL's workers win will have important consequences for the Salvadoran labor movement and the general public. Funding of the Privatization Process: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has financed the privatization of ANTEL through two loans granted to the Salvadoran government in 1992 and 1994. But a 1994 U.S. law, known as the Frank Amendment, states that the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank must guarantee: 1) that workers' rights are respected in the projects that they are financing, and 2) that when workers are to be affected (as in cases of privatization) they must be involved in the development and execution of the project. Thus, the IDB can and should be held accountable for guaranteeing respect for workers' rights in the privatization of ANTEL. CISPES National Office: P.O. Box 1801, New York, NY 10159; 212-229-1290 Regional Offices: New York, NY 212-229-1290 - Minneapolis, MN 612-872-0944 - San Francisco, CA 415-648-6520 ** End of text from cdp:labr.global ** *************************************************************************** This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking service. For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org *************************************************************************** forwarded to the TELECOM Digest by Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 18:50:02 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Cultural Treasures of the Internet" by Clark BKCLTINT.RVW 961016 "Cultural Treasures of the Internet", Michael Clark, 1995, 0-13-209669-2, U$22.95/C$29.95 %A Michael Clark clark@cs.widener.edu %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1995 %G 0-13-209669-2 %I Prentice Hall %O U$22.95/C$29.95 +1-201-236-7139 fax: 201-236-7131 beth_hespe@prenhall.com %P 313 %T "Cultural Treasures of the Internet" Clark has provided a good "yellow pages" of Web, gopher, archive, and telnet sites of interest to researchers and students of the humanities. (Oddly, but like so many others, he compiles mailing lists in a separate section.) More than that, however, he has provided a very serviceable and useful guide to Internet applications for those just getting started. (It may be a bit presumptuous to consider that anyone in the humanities automatically needs an introduction to the net, but it's understandable.) copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKCLTINT.RVW 961016 ============= Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "Kill all: God will know his own." Institute for rslade@vcn.bc.ca | - originally spoken by Papal Research into rslade@vanisl.decus.ca | Legate Bishop Arnald-Amalric User slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca | of Citeaux, at the siege of Security Canada V7K 2G6 | Beziers, 1209 AD ============= for back issues: AV contacts : telnet://guest@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (command "go virus") list, reviews : ftp://cs.ucr.edu/pub/virus-l/docs/reviews and review FAQ: http://csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/virus/virrevws/ http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/avrevfaq.html http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/quickrev.html Viral Morality: http://www.bethel.edu/Ideas/virethic.html Book reviews: telnet://guest@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (command "go tbooks") http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/review.html http://www.webwaves.com/books/slade ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/books/slade http://mag.mechnet.com/mne/books/reviews/slade/ gopher://gopher.technical.powells.portland.or.us:70 http://www.utexas.edu/computer/vcl/bkreviews.html RobertS Rules of Internet Order: http://www.techbabes.com/zine/rules.html http://www.brandonu.ca/~ennsnr/Resources/order.html ------------------------------ From: roamer1@pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Tennesee CellOne Introduces "USA Local" Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 20:06:40 GMT Organization: Catoosa Computing Services Reply-To: roamer1@pobox.com Tennessee CellularOne (GTE) has introduced what it calls "USA Local" calling: For just $5/mo, calls to *anywhere in the US* from virtually anywhere in Tennessee* are billed only at LOCAL rates, withOUT any long distance charges! Roaming is still the same as before (roaming rates + long distance); I'm not sure if NACN-forwarded calls (which do originate from Tennessee) are subject to LD charges. *The six counties of Tennessee *not* licensed to GTE are treated as roaming. Other carriers have introduced *discounted* long distance (AirTouch in Atlanta, for example, offers long distance to anywhere in the US for 10c/min above local rates), but I don't know of *any* carrier that bundles LD in with the local rates! This is in sharp contrast to BellSouth Mobility, who CONTINUES to charge long distance on calls that are 100% LOCAL, routes intRALATA calls as intERLATA, and has *very* high long distance rates (ex: Chattanooga -> Atlanta 28c/min!) United States Cellular is somewhat better, but not much (considering their record with coverage inside its licensed area.) Clearly, the BellSouth/US Cellular/360/rural carrier group of Tennessee carriers is about to lose even more customers. Once Powertel PCS, Sprint Spectrum, and AT&T Wireless enter the Tennessee market, the "B side" will probably die. 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: Davew@cris.com (Dave Harrison) Subject: Codec in 96 port SLIC Date: 12 Jan 1997 21:46:53 GMT Organization: Concentric Internet Services A friend of mine in Grand Junction, CO., (under)served by USWest, just moved to a building served by fiber and 96 port (?) SLIC's. I think I once read a dicussion in this group dealing with the limitation of the Codec in the SLIC line cards that limit data transmission, which may explain why he can't get connect rates higher than about 21.6k. The solution was to have the telco replace the line cards with ones sporting a different codec. Of course, USWest just says "duh" and has no clue. Any help or advice or perhaps even an incantation or two would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, Dave ------------------------------ From: Juha Veijalainen Subject: Re: Cellular Billing for Business/Personal Use Date: 10 Jan 1997 21:20:57 GMT Organization: Jkarhuritarit Jeff writes in : > Most companies that reimburse employees for business use of cellular > phones seem to require some kind of accounting for business > vs. personal use. > Does anyone know of any mechanisms used by any providers that make > this easier? My thought was that the cellular system could allow you > to add a prefix to your call [Snip, cut...] > Is anything like this in place anywhere? Or is any alternative in the > works? (I know one way would be to have two cell phones, but that > seems like a needless expense. Two numbers for one phone might not be > bad.) Comments, anyone? Both GSM providers in Finland allow you to use a prefix for your personal/business calls. In my case my network/service provider is Telecom Finland, I use my own phone and connection for both business and pleasure ... sorry, personal phone calls. Tele offers a service, where you can dial prefix "151" to separate business/private calls for billing. This also works if you have a company phone. When I get my bill, my business calls are already summed up. Unfortunately this prefix system does not work when roaming - so when I go abroad, I need to find out my business calls from the call detail listing. So the real question is does your service/network provider have the sort of soft/hardware that can collect the prefix information? It is all in the Call Detail Records ... Juha Veijalainen, Helsinki, Finland http://www.sci.fi/~juhave/ ** Mielipiteet omiani ** Opinions personal, facts suspect ** ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: Cellular Billing for Business/Personal Use Date: 12 Jan 1997 22:42:20 GMT Organization: University of South Florida Jeff (jeffq@ix.netcom.com) wrote: > Does anyone know of any mechanisms used by any providers that make > this easier? My thought was that the cellular system could allow you > to add a prefix to your call (like the *XX prefixes for services like > Call Forwarding) that would flag the call as a personal call. Your > bill could then be separated into calls with and calls without the > prefix. (Conceivably, you could even have multiple prefixes to allow > account-based charging, etc.) Breaking down the total metered charges > into percent prefixed and non-prefixed (i.e., personal and business), > and possibly even prorating the non-metered costs (e.g., monthly > rates, taxes, etc.) would make it a breeze to expense business costs. Account coding. This would be trivial, so of course, since it's _useful_, no cellco will ever implement it anywhere. Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us Member of the Technical Staff Unsolicited Commercial Emailers Sued The Suncoast Freenet Pedantry: It's not just a job, it's an adventure. Tampa Bay, Florida +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #9 ****************************