Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA16750; Sat, 4 Oct 1997 00:19:44 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 00:19:44 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199710040419.AAA16750@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #270 TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Oct 97 00:19:00 EDT Volume 17 : Issue 270 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The NANP (and Area Codes), Fifty Years Ago, Oct 1947 (Mark J. Cuccia) 100,000 Protest PR Telco Sale (Tad Cook) 206/425/253 Split, Usual Problems (Tad Cook) Book Review: "Community Networks" by Cohill/Kavanaugh (Rob Slade) FCC Toll-Free Conservation (aka Rationing) Plan (Judith 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: * telecom-request@telecom-digest.org * 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: 847-727-5427 Fax: 773-539-4630 ** Article submission address: editor@telecom-digest.org ** Our archives are available for your review/research. 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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. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 18:30:26 -0500 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: The NANP (and Area Codes), Fifty Years Ago, Oct 1947 As we now begin the month of October 1997, it was sometime during October fifty years ago (in 1947), that the original area code format was 'finalized' by AT&T. Thus, the North American Numbering Plan was born. There _were_ two preliminary plans of assigning area codes. There was a plan indicated as a map of the US in 1945 in issues of both {Bell Laboratories Record} and {Bell System Technical Journal} magazines, in articles on future automated toll dialing and switching - first to be dialed by operators and later by customers. The 1945 map indicated the (continental) US only, and indicated some 60 individual regions. No codes were shown in the regions in the map -- only the possible boundaries. Canada wasn't even indicated on the 1945 map in the Bell magazine articles, although one of the articles did indicate 7-digit (2L-5N) dialing across NPA boundaries with 'protected' central office digits where a metro area straddled an NPA boundary, and an example cited in the article indicated that Windsor ON (Canada), across the river from Detroit MI (USA) could be such a 'protected' 7-digit (2L-5N) dialing situation. Another proposal was from 1946/47 would have all of the area codes in a particular state be from a range of consecutive codes: i.e. New York state would have used area codes 212, 213, 214, 215. However, at some point in 1947, Bell Labs and AT&T decided to change that plan, and instead issued the 'final' plan which has been built-on for the past half-century. I only know that this final plan was issued in October 1947, but I don't know which particular date in October that a possible memo was released by AT&T regarding the nationwide US/Canada numbering plan. I had posted two articles to TELECOM Digest in 1996 on the preliminary but never adopted area code plans. In April 1996 I posted a brief article on the 1946/47 plan where a state with multiple NPA codes would have had all of its codes from a range of consecutive codes. And then in mid-December 1996, I posted a longer article on the development of Operator Toll Dialing and its extension into customer DDD (Direct Distance Dialing), and included a list of the 60 possible regions (states, groups-of-states, portions of states) from the 1945 map of possible future area codes. As for the 'final' plan issued in October 1947, here are the charts showing the assignments. Linc Madison's website also has a map of the US/Canada showing the 1947 assignments: http://www.best.com/~eureka/telecom/map_1947.html N0X Form (States/Provinces with only ONE code assigned) (40 codes assigned) 201 NJ 301 MD 401 RI 501 AR 601 MS 701 ND 801 UT 901 TN 202 DC 302 DE 402 NE 502 KY 602 AZ 702 NV 802 VT 902 mrtm.prv. 203 CT 303 CO 403 AB 503 OR 603 NH 703 VA 803 SC 204 MB 304 WV 404 GA 504 LA 604 BC 704 NC 205 AL 305 FL 405 OK 505 NM 605 SD 206 WA 306 SK 406 MT 207 ME 307 WY 208 ID N1N Form (States/Provinces with several codes assigned) (46 codes assigned) 212 NY 312 IL 412 PA 512 TX 612 MN 712 IA 812 IN 213 CA 313 MI 413 MA 513 OH 613 ON 713 TX 913 KS 214 TX 314 MO 414 WI 514 PQ 614 OH 814 PA 914 NY 215 PA 315 NY 415 CA 515 IA 715 WI 815 IL 915 TX 216 OH 316 KS 416 ON 616 MI 716 NY 816 MO 916 CA 217 IL 317 IN 517 MI 617 MA 717 PA 218 MN 418 PQ 518 NY 618 IL 319 IA 419 OH Note that in 1947, there were _no_ area codes assigned from the N09, N00, N10, nor N11 ranges. The N11 range is still unavailable for NPA assignments, since the eight N11 codes are reserved or used for local 3-digit service codes. The N09 range of area codes were first assigned in 1957. The N10 range of area codes were assigned to automated/dial TWX (Teletypewriter) service beginning in 1962, and continuing through circa 1982. Although AT&T turned (US) TWX service over to WUTCO in the early 1970's, it wasn't until the early 1980's when WUTCO began to switch and route (US) TWX on its _own_ network instead of over the Bell-System's DDD Telephone Network. And although TWX still exists (WUTCO transferred it back to AT&T circa 1990/91), it is handled via a separate network, not 'directly' associated with the AT&T regular telephone long-distance network, and still uses numbers of the N10 form. Therefore, beginning around 1991, the N10 format as area codes were assigned for regular (POTS) telephone services. The N00 format was first assigned for SACs (Special Area Codes) around the mid-1960's, with 800 being the first N00, used for InWATS (Inward Wide-Area Telephone Service), aka "Toll-Free" called-party pays. Note that there were 86 codes assigned to the (at that time) 48 states of the US, including Washington (DC), as well as the ten provinces of Canada. Alaska and Hawaii weren't even states of the US at that time, nor were they even indicated as even being (or intended to be) a part of the US/Canada area code format. Canada's two northern territories, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, weren't indicated as being a part of the area code format, neither. And while Mexico had been 'pseudo' NANP at one time (access to Mexico City from the US was dialable 'as-if' it really were part of the NANP switching/routing network) ... and for some time, certain towns along the extreme northwestern border of Mexico were numbered and dialed _and_ switched/routed as a part of the NANP/DDD network ... Mexico was _not_ shown in 1947 to be intended as part of the NANP. None of the Caribbean was indicated to be a part of the NANP in 1947. Area Code 809 was first reserved/assigned to the Caribbean/Bermuda area in 1958. Customer dialing between the Caribbean and the US/Canada began to be introduced in the mid-to-late-1960's, and continuing through the 1970's and 80's. Newfoundland wasn't yet politically part of Canada in October 1947, but it does seem possible that the original NPA 902 (which at that time also served New Brunswick, in addition to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) also served Newfoundland/Labrador. In the mid-1950's, NB and NF/LB split from 902 (which was retained for NS/PEI), into their own 506; and then in 1962, NF/LB split off from 506 (which was retained for NB), into its own 709. Also note the original intent was that N0X format codes (N01 through N08) were assigned to states/provinces which needed only one area code, and that N1N format codes (N12 through N19) were assigned to states and provinces which needed two or more area codes. That original assignment plan was abandoned in the early 1950's, when assignments of new area codes were beginning to increase. And, note that short 'dial-pull' (lower numerical) area codes were assigned to the more populated areas, due to the number of dialpulse (rotary dial) CPE and switching equipment in existance in 1947. Such shorter dial-pull area codes have fewer dial-pulses, and had been desirable for assignment to such populated areas which would have more incoming traffic than less populated areas. New York City with 212 Los Angeles with 213 Dallas with 214 Philadelphia with 215 Chicago with 312 Detroit with 313 St.Louis with 314 Pittsburgh with 412 etc. As for the 'single-NPA' states, they had N0X format codes. And even though the middle-digit '0' is longer to dial with ten dialpulses, the N0X area codes were assigned such that populated areas had shorter-pull, fewer-dialpulse digits for the first and third digits (even though the middle-digit '0' has ten total dialpulses): 201 for New Jersey 202 for DC 203 for Connecticut 301 for Maryland 302 for Delaware 401 for Rhode Island These are all locations in the northeast or mid-Atlantic area, with rather large metro areas, suburbs, etc., and thus a larger incoming traffic volume. Note that rural Idaho has 208, a longer-pull code. Also note the large number of codes which were unassigned in 1947, which are from the longer dial-pull ranges. While the area code format was 'finalized' in October 1947, customer (and even operator) use of area-codes for long-distance dialing was _QUITE_ limited. The area code format was a planning for the future, so that every telephone line in the US and Canada would have its own unique and distinct telephone number, for easy dialing and routing, first by operators, and later by customers, at later dates, as new automated toll switching (and ticketing) equipment was placed into service, throughout the US/Canada telephone network. Over the past fifty years, the NANP has had more codes assigned. First there were many codes assigned throughout the 1950's and early 1960's, due to the postwar economic and suburban 'boom', as well as the introduction of automated customer long-distance dialing (DDD) in addition to conversions of many manual local exchanges into dial central offices. More customers and lines means more central office codes. And as more central office codes are assigned, eventually new area codes need to be created, usually by a split. Sometimes, new area codes were created in the 1950's and early 1960's due to more efficient trunking requirements as customer DDD was being introduced. In the early 1960's, various conservation plans were being developed to allow N0X/N1X format codes for local central office codes (to be needed in some large populated areas, sometime by the mid-1970's), and for NNX format codes to be used as area codes, sometime by the mid-to- late-1990's. So-called 'interchangeable' NPA codes (NNX format) have indeed been introduced beginning in 1995, and have been assigned at rates never previously seen, surpassing the early rush of area code assignments in the 1950's and early 1960's. Our ten-digit numbering scheme (NXX-NXX-xxxx) in the NANP is expected to exhaust all available (POTS) area codes sometime in the first-half of the 21st Century. At first it was estimated to happen by 2050, but because of the current rate of assignment of NPA codes, some have pushed that date earlier to 2010. However, if local number portability amongst the competitive local telcos is properly introduced over the next ten years, or if central-office-code sharing takes place among the various competitive telcos, it may be possible to reduce the rate of area code assignments. There are frequently questions as to why so many countries or territories are included in a single numbering plan (CCITT/ITU Country Code +1), rather than the US, Canada, and each individual Caribbean island each having unique/distinct country-codes. In 1947, much of Canada's telephone industry was directly associated with the US telephone industry. AT&T did own a portion of Bell Canada; and AT&T's Western Electric, along with Bell Canada, owned Northern Electric (later known as Northern Telecom, now known as Nortel). The Caribbean was intended to be added in 1958. Plans to incorporate Mexico into the DDD network also existed since the late 1950's, and were first introduced around the early-to-mid-1960's. The CCITT/ITU plans for country-codes for each telephone country/network in the world wasn't really introduced until around 1964 (although there was a preliminary 1960 plan for country codes for Europe, North Africa, and nearby Asian countries). In closing, while there were 86 area codes assigned for the NANP in October 1947, fifty years later, on 1-October-1997, I am counting at least 212 active "POTS" (non-SAC) area codes in the NANP, even if only in permissive dialing. And the increase in new NPA codes is far from over or even slowing down. NWORLASKCG0 (BellSouth #1AESS Class-5 Local "Seabrook" 504-24x-) NWORLAIYCM1 (BellSouth-Mobility Hughes-GMH-2000 Cellular-MTSO NOL) NWORLAMA0GT (BellSouth DMS-100/200 fg-B/C/D Accss-Tandem "Main" 504+) NWORLAMA20T (BellSouth DMS-200 TOPS:Opr-Srvcs-Tandem "Main" 504+053+) NWORLAMA04T (AT&T #4ESS Class-2 Toll 060-T / 504-2T "Main" 504+) JCSNMSPS06T (AT&T #5ESS OSPS:Operator-Services-Tandem 601-0T 601+121) 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- ------------------------------ Subject: 100,000 Protest PR Telco Sale Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 18:18:42 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Saboteurs cut governor's phone, 100,000 protest telephone company sale By Marion Lloyd Associated Press Writer SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Saboteurs cut telephone service to the governor's office and other government facilities, throwing down the gauntlet Wednesday before 100,000 demonstrators marched to protest the sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone Co. Federico Torres Montalvo, leader of the public sector union, said they didn't expect to change the mind of Gov. Pedro Rossello but hoped to intimidate possible buyers by showing the depth of workers' hostility. The leader of one of the two telephone company unions, Alfonso Benitez Rosa, called on Rossello to hold a referendum, and gave the governor a week to respond. "Strike! Strike!" thousands of people yelled in response, calling for another strike to push the issue. Unions and some civil, religious and political groups had called for a general strike Wednesday, but shops and other private businesses operated as usual. It appeared the protest was confined mainly to government workers, the bastion of embattled unions losing ground under an ambitious privatization program. About a quarter of Puerto Rico's 1.2 million-strong workforce is employed by the government. The unions "are fighting a battle for their survival," said management professor Elias Gutierrez of the University of Puerto Rico. Bomb threats were reported at the governor's mansion, the Capitol building and the Muniz U.S. Air Force, but police found no explosives. Telephone company spokesman Nestor Concepcion said unidentified saboteurs cut a fiber optic line overnight, causing $200,000 in damage and halting telephone service to a leading hotel and several government offices. Jose Martinez, a telephone company technician, said the company had restricted access to the major telephone cables and locked manholes since Monday. "Legislators have to take a look, and decide how many votes they've got here and how many they stand to lose," he said from atop a church overlooking more than 100,000 demonstrators on two avenues flanking the seaside Capitol. The phone company makes $100 million a year and employs 8,000 people in what some economists say is a management-heavy bureaucracy. Few government schools opened in San Juan, indicating teachers heeded union calls to strike and ignored government threats to dock their pay. Of the electricity utility's 10,400 employees, only 2,700 managers and executives came to work, said spokesman Freddie Marrero. Air traffic and cargo ships operated normally, as did hospitals. Around the Capitol, protesters danced to blaring merengue music and waved Puerto Rican flags. Riot police in bulletproof vests lined the streets alongside vendors selling codfish and plantain fritters, hot dogs and hamburgers. The governor says the telephone company sale would improve efficiency and lower rates. Rossello has refused to guarantee that there will be no layoffs in a takeover. The unions claim the government is grasping for ways to bankroll exorbitant building projects. Rossello says sale profits would help a $5 billion shortfall in the state retirement fund, repair a leaking water system and ensure continued benefits to telephone workers. ------------------------------ Subject: 206/425/253 Split, Usual Problems Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 22:22:06 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Puget Sound Business Are Frustrated with Temperamental New Area Codes By Cynthia Flash, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News TACOMA, Wash.--Oct. 3--Time is running out to fix any bugs associated with the Puget Sound's new 253 and 425 area codes. And with just six weeks before the new codes become the only option around, some glitches do still exist. The folks at Information Technologies Corp. in Puyallup report that some of their customers from around the United States still can't get through using 253. "If you use 253, you may or may not get your calls. If you use 206, you may or may not get your calls," said a frustrated employee of the company, which offers courses on such topics as how to collect judicial judgments and child support. The employee, who did not want his name used, estimates that Information Technologies Corp. has lost $20,000 in sales since the region switched to new area codes April 27. The 206 area code was broken into three different codes. Seattle and Vashon, Mercer and Bainbridge islands remain in 206; most of South King and Pierce counties are in 253. The eastern and northern parts of King County and the southern part of Snohomish County are in 425. Officials with US West and the state Utilities and Transportation Commission said they have received a few complaints like that of the Puyallup business. But, they say, the problems don't seem to be widespread. "We haven't received very many complaints," US West spokeswoman Dana Smith said Thursday. "The complaints we do receive, the vast majority of them are related to equipment problems." Smith explained that every time a region gets a new area code, it's up to the hundreds of individual telephone companies throughout the country (and tens of thousands of businesses with complex phone systems) to reprogram their telephone equipment to make sure it recognizes the new codes. Bellcore, the regulator of numbers for the nation's telephone industry, notifies all telephone vendors monthly of new area codes and prefixes. It's possible some vendors who maintain business telephone systems didn't program the Puget Sound's new codes into their customers' telephone systems, Smith said. Steve King, a spokesman for the state utilities commission, said he's received far fewer calls this time than he did when the region began using the 360 area code two years ago. Before the split into 360, all area codes had a 0 or 1 as the middle digit. The change to a new number in the middle of the area code sent the nation's telephone systems into a frenzy. Thousands of companies lost money because callers were unable to get through. With this latest code change, up until Nov. 15 callers can use the new codes or continue to call 206 and still get through. King said he expects to hear about more problems come Nov. 16, when callers will have to use the new codes. Until then, Smith and King urge businesses in this area to continue to tell their out-of-town customers about the new area codes. "Businesses here should be communicating with their customers, telling them their phone number is changing and reminding them if they have automatic-call equipment that it will need to be reprogrammed," King said. THERE ARE TEST NUMBERS to call to determine if a phone system can access the new area codes. If callers are able to get through to the test numbers, they know their phones are working. The numbers are: 1-253-627-0062 and 1-425-452-0009. If telephone users have problems, they may call the US West customer service line at 1-800-441-5516, or the telephone industry's area code hot line at 1-888-97SPLIT. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 11:14:08 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Community Networks" by Cohill/Kavanaugh BKCNLFBV.RVW 970320 "Community Networks", Andrew Michael Cohill/Andrea Lee Kavanaugh, 1997, 0-89006-896-8, U$39.00 %E Andrew Michael Cohill http://www.bev.net/project/people/cohill %E Andrea Lee Kavanaugh %C 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 %D 1997 %G 0-89006-896-8 %I Artech House/Horizon %O U$39.00 617-769-9750 800-225-9977 fax: +1-617-769-6334 %O artech@world.std.com bookco@artech.demon.co.uk %P 334 %T "Community Networks: Lessons from Blacksburg, Virginia" In the last chapter, analyzing success factors of the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV), one of the points is to "Show, do not tell, community members how to use the technology as a way of increasing use of the network in the community." This same point applies to the book itself. It succeeds, where many other books on similar topics failed, primarily because it shows the actual workings of a functional, and functioning, electronic village. This puts it far ahead of blue-sky proposals of what might (or might not) become possible in the future. An introduction and historical background leads into discussion of architecture, evaluation, democracy, education, business, technology, information management, history database, and the aforementioned success factors. Economics are touched on in various articles, but it is a pity that an overview treatment is not included. Still, any such flaws are far outweighed by the value of the reality and experience that the various authors bring to the task. Blacksburg has validated certain promises of the information age -- and challenged others. Planners of information infrastructures, national or otherwise, ignore it at their peril. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKCNLFBV.RVW 970320 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 11:28:58 -0400 From: Judith Oppenheimer Reply-To: joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com Organization: ICB TOLL FREE - 800/888 news... commentary... consulting... Subject: FCC Toll Free Conservation (aka Rationing) Plan New York, NY October 3, 1997 (ICB TOLL FREE NEWS) On September 29, 1997, the FCC directed DSMI to implement the toll free conservation plan as of 12:01 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday, October 4, 1997. The plan implemented by the FCC is the one developed and submitted by industry-forum SNAC (SMS Number Administration Committee). Of unusual note is the suggestion, and the FCC's approval, for a 'banking' system, to give each RespOrg a credit for the unused portion of its weekly allocation on the conservation plan. The FCC letter states, 'We believe such a plan could be beneficial, because it would minimize any incentive to reserve numbers unnecessarily. We would, however, encourage SNAC to develop a proposal that would limit the amount of numbers that could be 'banked' from week to week.' The Actual Allotment The FCC directed as follows: 1. For purposes of this conservation plan, 'work status' refers to a toll free number that has been loaded in the Service Control Points and is being utilized to complete toll free service calls. 2. A RespOrg with fewer than 1,000 numbers in working status as of August 23, 1997 may reserve up to 200 numbers each week. 3. A RespOrg with between 1,000 and 30,000 numbers in working status as of August 23, 1997 may reserve up to 250 numbers each week. 4. A RespOrg with more than 30,000 numbers in working status as of August 23, 1997 may reserve up to 0.95 percent of the numbers the RespOrg had in working status on August 23, 1997. 5. RespOrgs are reminded that under the Commission's regulations, 47 C.F.R. 52.105, RespOrgs may not reserve toll free numbers without having an actual toll free subscriber for whom those numbers are being reserved. New RespOrg Certifications The FCC ordered that DSMI can process and grant, 'where appropriate', applications that it has received in its office as of September 29, 1997. RespOrgs certified as a result of that procedure may reserve up to 200 numbers per week during the period of the conservation plan. DSMI can also process and grant 'where appropriate', applications that it receives after September 29, 1997, but RespOrgs certified as a result of that process may not reserve toll free numbers until 877 is opened up. 'Appropriate' RespOrg applications is not defined. Reporting Procedures Finally, DSMI is to file weekly reports with the FCC's Network Services Division of the Common Carrier Bureau as well as SNAC, containing the following: 1. The quantity of numbers in the spare pool. 2. The quantity of numbers being returned to the spare pool of available numbers each week by category (for example, numbers that have been disconnected and whose aging period has expired; numbers that were reserved but not assigned and are automatically returned after 45 days; etc.) 3. The quantity of numbers actually served from Sunday to Saturday, each week, beginning Sunday, October 5, 1997. 800/888 ICB TOLL FREE NEWS 800/888 ...today's regulatory news for tomorrow's marketing decisions. ICB FAX EDITION NOW AVAILABLE. EMAIL mailto:joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com FOR COMPLEMENTARY ISSUE AND ORDER FORM (ph) 212 684-7210. (fx) 212 684-2714. 1 800 THE EXPERT. ICB Headlines Autosponder: mailto:headlines@icbtollfree.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #270 ******************************