Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id VAA22786; Thu, 25 Sep 1997 21:06:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 21:06:03 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199709260106.VAA22786@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #260 TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Sep 97 21:06:00 EDT Volume 17 : Issue 260 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Suspense: Sorry, Wrong Number - Yesterday and Today (Mark J. Cuccia) Denver: Home Number Ringing on Mobile Phone (Donald M. Heiberg) 888 Shortage Hits Toll-Free Phone Industry (Monty Solomon) Fun in Elkhart, IN (was Re: Radio Vigilantes) (Bill Levant) 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. 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Cuccia Subject: Suspense: Sorry, Wrong Number - Yesterday and Today I am _NOT_ titling this post with "Last Laugh" as part of the subject line. While I do intend some sarcasm/irony further down, the fictitious situation described here is _NOT_ funny. Background: "Suspense" was a dramatic anthology radio series that ran for 20 years on the CBS Radio Network (Columbia Broadcasting System), from 1942 to 1962. An 'anthology' is a series in which each episode is a totally different story/situation (and cast of characters), with no situation 'thread' to any other episode (similar to CBS-TV's "Twilight Zone", 1959-64). Many stories which aired on "Suspense" were, however _re-performed_ by either most or all of the original cast, or a brand new cast of players (voices); however in the later years of the original run of the series, many repeated episodes were actual _reruns_ of tapes (or transcription disks) of an original or earlier episode. One of the most popular and 'spine-tingling' episodes which aired on Suspense was "Sorry, Wrong Number", written by Lucille Fletcher. This story aired eight different times during Suspense's twenty year run on CBS Radio. The airings in the later years of Suspense were actually reruns, rather than re-performances. However, Agnes Morehead (who later played Samantha's mother on "Bewitched" on ABC-TV) always starred as the bed-ridden invalid, who is frightened by a mysterious telephone call that she overheard. The story starts out where she is trying to call her husband at work. He is working late that evening, and she is alone, in her bed. While she does have a telephone next to her on the nightstand, this is the 1940's or 1950's, long before the "Lifecall" autodialing devices first came on the market. Due to the constant busy signals while calling her husband's office number, she finally dials '0' for the operator to 'check' the line. When the operator dials the number, she hears ringing, and then the line is answered by _two_ men. Somehow, she gets cut into someone else's conversation. She can hear both of them, but they cannot hear her. What the two men are discussing is planning ... a MURDER! Obviously, she is quite upset about this, but what she doesn't realize until the end of the episode (and her own life) is that the two men are planning HER murder! Her husband was going to have her killed for the insurance money. After a few minutes, the connection is broken. Agnes gets the operator on the line again, asking her to "misdial" that "wrong" number, but all we hear are busy signals. Agnes demands to speak with a supervisor and even the Chief Operator to see if the numbers of the two men can be traced. The operators and supervisors tell her that she should call the Police, and even place the call for her. Agnes gets a 'run-around' from the Police precinct desk-sergeant. But she is still worried and concerned about hearing the telephone call with a murder being planned. She calls up the operator again, who is unable to help her further with her request. Eventually, Agnes gets a telephone call from Western Union. There is a telegram for her, which Western Union is going to read over the telephone. The telegram is from her husband. He has been trying to call her all evening, but her line has been busy. He needs to go out of town for the evening, and tells her not to worry. The telephone is right next to her bed. This gets Agnes more worried and nervous. She calls information to get the number of a private hospital (Sanitorium) that she had stayed at once before, to either hire a private nurse for the evening, or to even have an ambulance take her to the hospital and check-in. She then notices that her clock has stopped, and she hangs up on the hospital, to call the Time-of-Day recording (MEridien-7-1212) for the correct time. When she heard the two men plotting the murder, they said that the victim would be stabbed at 11:15 pm that night. It is now 11:10pm, and she hears a noise downstairs. NOW she begins to think that SHE is the unnamed murder victim mentioned in the telephone call that she heard earlier that evening. She picks up the handset on the telephone and dials '0' for the Operator. When the operator comes on the line, she says that it is an emergency and needs the Police. The operator connects, and the ringing indication can be heard through her receiver. A train is passing just outside of her room, and the rumbling can be heard. Then, you hear Agnes begin to scream "NO! NO! PLEASE, DON'T COME NEAR ME! NO! HELP!" Just then, the train lets out a loud whistle and horn, and Agnes lets out one high-pitched blood-curdling SHREAK! As she dies, the (metal-housing) telephone clangs to the floor. However, the ringing-tone of the connection to the Police can still be heard. They haven't yet answered. Finally, a voice comes from the receiver, "Police Department, Precinct 43, Sergeant Martin speaking". The voice can be heard repeating it a couple more times. Then a man's voice is heard in the late Agnes' bedroom speaking into the phone: "Police Department??? Sorry, this must be a wrong number. Don't worry, everything is OK, here". (Music up- end of episode) --------------- There are some references in the dialogue that the story takes place in New York City, although for most of its run, Suspense was produced in Hollywood. Therefore, New York Telephone (later NYNEX, now Bell Atlantic) would be the local exchange telephone company. Also, I have described the story as I have heard it on several of its performances by Agnes Morehead on Suspense. A motion picture version of "Sorry, Wrong Number" was also done, starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck. who also starred in the "Lux Radio Theater" recreation of the movie version. I have seen only part of the movie (I think that AMC, American Movie Classics has run the "Sorry, Wrong Number" movie before), and I did once hear a tape of the "Lux Radio Theater" version, which was an expanded story over the "Suspense" radio version. Now, lets flash-forward to a post-divestiture telephone environment. And here is where I will give two different scenarios, with some sarcasm. Also, while 911 is the 'standard' emergency access number in the North American Numbering Plan, one can always call the Operator in the case of an emergency. The operator has (is supposed to have) a special bulletin at her position indicating the emergency reporting numbers (or operator routing codes to such) of various emergency agencies and jurisdictions in the territory where she might receive calls from. Also, not every part of the US and Canada necessarily have the 911 emergency number in operation. The first scenario is the late 1980's or early 1990's. While AT&T and its now-divested local Bell Operating Companies had separated basic operator services, with AT&T retaining the older pre-divestiture TSPS Operator network, and the LECs starting up their own new (usually TOPS although some LECs have OSPS) operator systems for intra-LATA 'only' services. Dialing a '0' would get the intra-LATA 'only' LEC operator (the 'new' operator system in most parts of the US), while dialing '00' would route to the operator services of your primary IXC's operator services, if they offered such. If your chosen primary long-distance carrier didn't have any operator services, '00' would route to either a re-order, a recorded announcement, or in some cases, the operator services of a different long-distance carrier which had contacted with your LD-carrier, to provice operator services. Now, let's assume that Agnes' line is presubscribed to AT&T. Around the late 1980's, for a few years, AT&T operators and TOPS/OSPS would _NOT_ be able to assist on intra-LATA calls. Even calling-card sequence-calls via AT&T could only be to points _outside_ of the LATA you were calling from. That has since changed ... AT&T live operators and the OSPS system can be used for intra-LATA calls (at AT&T's prices which could be lower - or sometimes higher - than what the LEC would charge for the same call), but AT&T's "no inTRA-LATA assistance" was problematic for about a year or two during the timeframe mentioned here. Okay. Agnes dials '0' for the operator to ask for the Police. She forgets that 911 could also be dialed (New York City has had 911 for emergencies, for DECADES, since probably the late 1960's). Now, when one dials '0', there is a three-to-five second delay before connecting with the (LEC) Operator switch. Since there 'could' be digits to follow the (initial) '0', such as in 0+ calls, '00' (i.e., a _second_ '0' after the initial '0'), or IDDD calls 01(1)+country-code-etc., there is this delay before your local end-office times-out and connects you with your LEC '0' TOPS (or OSPS) although you could DTMF a '#' button right after the single '0', which is supposed to time-out right away, cutting through to your LEC TOPS. However, Agnes is in a highly frantic state. When she doesn't hear anything right away after dialing '0', she dials it a second time, before she would have timed-out to the NYNEX TOPS operator. Now, her end-office routes a '00' call over to the operator services of her primary carrier. In this case, it would route to AT&T's TSPS/OSPS. A live AT&T operator comes on the line, "AT&T Operator, how may I help you?". Agnes screams "Get me the POLICE, PLEASE, HURRY!". However, the AT&T operator comes back "I'm sorry, Ma'm, but that call is in your NYNEX LATA. You will have to hang-up and dial your local NYNEX operator with a SINGLE '0'", and then disconnects! Of course, even though the LEC operators aren't (usually) allowed or even capable of handling (most) inTER-LATA calls ... and circa 1990, AT&T's operators weren't supposed to be handling inTRA-LATA calls, there have always been ways to over-ride such blockings at the TOPS or TSPS/OSPS equipment, in case of emergencies. Such inTRA-LATA over-ride by AT&T _would_ have been handled in the above situation. Also, if a county straddled multiple LATAs, and the Sheriff's office was not in your LATA, a LEC single-0 operator would always be able to over-ride and connect to them even though it is 'technically' outside of the LATA of the requesting calling party. Now, lets fast-forward again, to a second scenario, mid-to-late-1990s and onward. Again, Agnes dials '0', followed within five-seconds by a second '0', since the POTENTIAL extra-digits delay is confusing. Again, she routes to the AT&T OSPS, but this time, not to a live human AT&T Operator, but rather the AT&T 'sparkle' jingle and AT&T audio branding logo. Next comes a pre-recorded menu: "This is AT&T. To place a call, please enter the number you are calling. For AT&T 'double-oh' information, please press or say '1'. For all other assistance, please say 'information', 'credit', or 'operator', now". In her frantic state, Agnes begins to scream: "HELP! POLICE! ... EMERGENCY!" Would the automated system then state: "I'm sorry, I did not understand your voice-response. Please say 'information', 'credit', or 'operator', now. OR, please stay on the line, and an operator will answer" ??? Or is the system 'smart' enough to attempt to recognize such words as: 'help', 'police', 'emergency', 'fire', 'ambulance', 'hospital', etc. to connect a live AT&T operator _RIGHT AWAY_ who will assist in such an emergency situation? All of these pre-recorded auto-prompts _could_ delay one in receiving live operator assistance in a bona-fide emergency situation. As I mentioned earlier, not all originating locations have any active 911 service. And whether or not a location has 911 service, the telco operator is always supposed to be available for Emergency assistance. But since single-0 most of the time includes a 3-to-5 second delay before timing out to a LEC operator (due to POSSIBLE additional digits following an initial '0'), some might dial a _second_ '0' within the delay period, thus routing to the operator services of one's primary LD-company. Of course, one could dial '0' followed by (DTMF-ing) a '#' (pound-button) thus cancelling the 3-to-5 second delay, and cutting thru right-away to the LEC operator, but how my people of the 'general public' would even _know_ to use the '#' button!? And what about the many rotary dial phones out there! I do expect that AT&T, MCI and Sprint-LD operators (when a live human operator is finally reached) would be properly trained to know how to handle emergency call situations. But it is going to get more-and-more complicated with local telco competition, and also as AT&T operators begin to receive calls from larger and more varied geographic territory. I mentioned in an earlier post, that when I call an AT&T operator from New Orleans, the AT&T #5ESS OSPS switch that serves me is located in Jackson MS (601-0T, JCSNMSPS06T), however the operators themselves are located on the southern part of the east coast, anywhere from Maryland to Florida - i.e. Bell Atlantic's former C&P Telephone territory (MD, DC, VA, WVa) and Bell South's former Southern Bell territory (NC, SC, GA, FL). And as for A-O-Slime operators serving private "COCOT" payphones, I _have_ read of situations where these operators have COMPLETELY BUNGLED emergency calls. I don't know if anyone actually lost their life due to such A-O-Slime incompetancy on handling emergency calls. However, many of us know that these companies are now using _all kinds_ of automated menus and prompts on "0-" (zero-minus) types of dialed calls. This can delay reaching operator assistance in an emergency, as well as the COCOT (and even telco-owned) 'chip-dialing' payphones will delay for a few seconds on the customer entering '0' into the payphone, which is then followed by the payphone grabbing a loop with the telco central-office, and _then_ dialing out (single) '0', _OR_ in the case of A-O-Slime, dialing out an 800/888/950 number or 10(1X)XXX+0 of the A-O-Slime entity, and _then_ when connected with the A-O-Slime switch, the payphone DTMF's out various identification digits. THEN the customer has to put up with various menu prompts! :( So, as I mentioned in my earlier posting, IMO, AT&T should route '00' and 10(10)288-0(#/0), i.e. calls dialed for AT&T's own 0- (zero-minus) operators, LIVE AND DIRECT to a LIVE HUMAN BEING, rather than menus and prompts. Actually, IMO, all LECs and IXCs _should_ do the same thing for calls to _their_ 0/00 type operators! If I wanted to place a '0+' type of a call, I WOULD HAVE DIALED (10(1X)XXX)+0+ten-digits or (10(1X)XXX)+01+international, or accessed the operator/card services with an access number for the carrier - 800/888/950/etc. If I wanted directory assistance, I would have dialed (10(1X)XXX)+1/0+NPA-KL.5-1212. And with all of these NPA splits (and now overlays), many (though not necessarily all, and not always 'neat and clean' or clearcut) DA systems allow the operator to check multiple/nearby (and soon overlaid) NPAs for directory lookup inquiries. When I dial something 0/00 'zero-minus', I want to go directly to an operator! 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: Donald M. Heiberg Subject: Denver: Home Number Ringing on Mobile Phone Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 14:09:51 -0600 From the "Rocky Mountain News", Denver, September 24, 1997 http://www.denver-rmn.com/business/0924west2.htm US West launches wireless with a twist Home number ringing on mobile phone is a first in U.S., company says By Rebecca Cantwell Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer (C) Rocky Mountain News US West Communications turned up its new wireless service in the Denver area Tuesday with a twist the company says is a national first: A customer's home number can be programmed to ring on the mobile phone. The Denver-based phone giant is the sixth company to enter the wireless phone market in the metro area and the third this year to launch personal communications service, or PCS. US West mounted an elaborate multimedia event at the Denver Museum of Natural History to make its long-anticipated announcement. The company also said it will offer free admission all weekend to the museum and three other cultural attractions to promote the service. Playing on its role as the virtual monopoly local phone service provider, US West will market the Access2 wireless phone service primarily as an add-on to regular service. Customers can choose their existing home or small-business office numbers as their PCS number, and incoming calls to that number can be routed directly to the mobile phone for $4.95 a month. Or customers can use the separate number assigned to the PCS phone. An existing voice mailbox can be used for messages on the PCS phone, and users can get immediate notification of messages left at home or work. Other familiar features such as Caller ID and call waiting are also available. "Access2 gives people their own portable 'one-stop-shop,' putting all the power and convenience of their home or office phone in the palm of their hand,'' said US West Communications President Sol Trujillo. "It's so advanced, it's actually simple to use.'' Trujillo said prices would be competitive. The company's Sony Qualcomm PCS phones sell for $199 with packages ranging from $24.95 a month for one hour to $69.95 a month for five hours. The idea is to provide convenience for customers in an era when "some of us need a poster-sized business card to hold all our phone numbers,'' Trujillo said. Peter Mannetti, general manager of US West Wireless, was introduced on a video screen talking on a PCS phone in the rain in front of sea lions at the Denver Zoo. Trujillo reached Mannetti by dialing his home phone number. After arriving at the museum, Mannetti explained that the technology allowing customers to use one number for both wireless and regular phones was developed at US West's Advanced Technology Center in Boulder. The company spent more than $100 million preparing for its launch, with about 155 towers in metro Denver. US West is launching its service after winning auctions from the federal government later than its PCS rivals. Sprint PCS and Western Wireless, which both launched service earlier this year, paid more than $64 million each for 30 mega hertz of spectrum. US West paid only $5.3 million for a third as much space -- 10 megahertz. Mannetti said that was "more than sufficient spectrum'' to meet its needs. The service launched Tuesday reaches from Longmont to Castle Rock and from Golden to Aurora, with plans to expand. Major rivals were unimpressed. "We applaud them in recognizing the future of this technology but its hard for us to be overwhelmed when in less than a year, we've launched in 65 markets and 500 cities,'' said Bob Kelley of Sprint PCS. US West is launching "a variation on something we've been offering for three years,'' said Mary Ireland of AT&T Wireless. And Craig Cavey of Western Wireless' VoiceStream noted his company's PCS service covers a wider area: from Cheyenne to Pueblo. But Mannetti said the market is growing fast. Predictions are that in five to seven years half the population will have a wireless phone, Mannetti said. "This is the biggest expansion of telephony since Alexander Graham Bell,'' he said. September 24, 1997 Submitted by Don Heiberg, Denver (303) 589-1539 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 18:46:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: 888 Shortage Hits Toll-free Phone Industry 888 Shortage Hits Toll-free Phone Industry By Roger Fillion WASHINGTON - The toll-free telephone business is in a crunch -- a numbers crunch, that is. Industry officials warn that demand for 888" and 800" toll-free numbers is so strong they need to conserve the pool of unused numbers. They want to avoid using up toll-free "resources" before a new 877" code is deployed next April. There seems to be sort of a run on toll-free numbers," said Sally Mott Freeman, spokeswoman for the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), the industry group that monitors the allocation of toll-free numbers. ATIS has asked the Federal Communications Commission for a hand to implement a conservation plan" in the face of booming popularity for toll-free digits among companies and consumers, who clearly like the convenience and price of the product. The use of the numbers in pagers, faxes and other gadgets also has contributed to the squeeze, industry officials said. The toll-free codes let callers dial, free of charge, the party assigned the number. Users, like mail-order companies, airlines and parents of college students, pay a phone company or other toll-free provider a flat fee for use of the number. Availability of 800 numbers essentially dried up in early 1996 after nearly 20 years. The 888 code was introduced in March 1996 and was expected to last through spring 1998. We'll be lucky if it lasts two years," said Freeman. There are roughly eight million numbers available with each toll-free prefix. As of Sept. 20, there were 12.1 million 800 and 888 numbers in use and 2.6 million available, according to Morristown, N.J.- based Bellcore, whose subsidiary operates the database that distributes the numbers. The proposed conservation plan would limit the number of 800/888 numbers that phone companies and other toll-free providers can reserve for use by businesses and consumers. Currently, the roughly 210 companies that assign toll-free numbers face a ceiling of 2,000 a week, or 7.5 percent of all numbers they have available for use -- whichever is larger. Industry officials are proposing the FCC to sharply lower the cap applicable to each company. The cap would vary from company to company, depending on the number of toll-free numbers each company has deployed for actual use. ATIS told the FCC earlier this month that 401,051 new toll- free numbers were assigned in August, up from a monthly average of 344,113 for much of the year. Further increases, the group warned, would exhaust" the available pool before next April's 877 launch. At this point, however, officials don't anticipate the kind of crunch that happened in 1995 with 800 numbers. The FCC at that time crafted a plan to slow the depletion and smooth the deployment of the 888 code. Among other things, the introduction of the 888 code was moved ahead by a month. FCC officials are monitoring the latest situation. The convenience of toll-free numbers helps explain their popularity, especially among mail-order businesses and other companies keen on having customers call them. Industry officials also cite these factors as likely, or possible, contributors to the depletion: -- Greater use of electronic pagers, fax machines and voice mail based on toll-free digits. -- More use of personal toll-free numbers by consumers, such as parents who have a student at college and want to give that person a cheap way to call home. -- The approach of the holiday season, which prompts catalog companies to request more toll-free numbers. -- Next year's launch of 877, which has spurred companies to try and reserve remaining 888 numbers before they dry up. Once it was technically possible for many new categories of customers to use them, the market found a way to use them," Ken Branson, a Bellcore spokesman, said of toll-free numbers. Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved ------------------------------ From: Wlevant@aol.com (Bill Levant) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 21:50:30 EDT Subject: Fun in Elkhart, IN (was Re: Radio Vigilantes) Maybe it's me, but my bullshit detector pinned when I read the story about the guys who (allegedly) bought a TV, hacked it to make a ham frequency jammer, and then reboxed it and returned it for resale. C'mon, now. Isn't this a bit much? For starters, how can these guys be sure that the hacked TV will be sold to someone who lives close enough to the repeater to make a difference? Won't the extraneous RF output louse up the PURCHASER'S reception enough to make him/her suspicious right off the bat? Isn't it an enormous amount of trouble to go to, given that there are easier, cheaper and more effective ways to jam a signal? *I* think it's a modern urban legend. For those unfamiliar with the term, I commend you to any of the several books on the subject written by Jan Brunvand, Professor of English at the University of Utah. Two of them, "The Study of American Folklore" and "Readings in American Folklore" are fairly scholarly; the others, "The Mexican Pet", "The Choking Doberman" and "Curses, Broiled Again" are considerably more accessible, and are funny as hell. You'll see that many, many stories that you've probably heard a hundred times before (and accepted as true without question) are actually a form of modern legend. ObTelecom example: Johnny Carson, or Steve McQueen, or Paul Newman, or Sammy Davis, Jr., or Robert Redford, or Burt Reynolds, or (... you get the idea ...) won a gigantic settlement against AT&T (or MCI, or Sprint, or ...) as a result of which Johnny/Steve/Paul/Sammy/Robert/ Burt/etc is giving out his credit card number publicly so that the unwashed masses can help him eat up the settlement money. Completely untrue; allegedly, one iteration of this legend, in 1981, cost the Wabash Telephone Company, of Louisville, IL about $100,000.00 in unrecoverable charges billed to "Burt Reynolds' credit card number", which turned out to be one of theirs. That is, I believe, PAT's neck of the woods (or at least a whole lot closer than Philadelphia is). Source : Curses, Broiled Again, P. 235, by Jan Brunvand (c) 1981 - published by W.W. Norton & Co. (ISBN 0-393-02710-4) Great exercise for the critical thinking muscles. Bill ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #260 ******************************