Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA19360; Thu, 16 Oct 1997 22:25:09 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 22:25:09 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199710170225.WAA19360@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #284 TELECOM Digest Thu, 16 Oct 97 22:25:00 EDT Volume 17 : Issue 284 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson San Diego LEC Competition "A Mess" (Tad Cook) New US West Calling Card (73115.1041@compuserve.com) Employment Opportunity: Network Management Tech in Chicago (M. Kennedy) Question re: ROLM CBX (Lincoln DeCoursey) Re: "Sky Word Plus" - How Does it Work? (Ben Combee) Re: New Cellular Phone Experience So Far (Brett Frankenberger) Re: New Cellular Phone Experience So Far (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: * 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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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: San Diego LEC Competition "A Mess" Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 22:55:18 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) San Diego Area Local Telephone Competition a Mess, Watchdog Group Says By Bradley J. Fikes, North County Times, Escondido, Calif. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News SAN DIEGO--Oct. 15--Competition for local telephone service has turned into a confusing mess for consumers, according to a report released Tuesday by the watchdog Utility Consumers Action Network. Poor customer service, hard-to-understand pricing structures and inaccurate information bedevil San Diegans who want to choose another local carrier than the previous monopoly, Pacific Bell, said Barry Fraser, a UCAN staff attorney who prepared the report. Sprint, MCI and AT&T "seem to be fumbling the ball" in the local markets, Fraser said at a press conference Tuesday. "They're providing mediocre customer service, they don't seem to be geared up and ready to market these services. They lay some of the blame on Pac Bell, Pac Bell lays some of the blame on the competitors. I think the blame needs to be spread everywhere," including the regulators who failed to plan adequately for competition, he said. The report recommends creating an independent entity to keep an eye on local telephone service and provide low-cost information on services and prices. This information, in turn, would allow California consumers and businesses to easily compare the service provider offerings, thus aiding market forces to drive down prices and increase service quality. The cost would be $850,000 annually for the first five years, and gradually phased out during the next five years, the report estimated. After that time, the entity "will have developed the required expertise and authority to either sell its information or secure private grants," the report stated. UCAN normally receives two or three complaints a month on local service, Fraser said, but the numbers began rising after local telephone competition was introduced last December. UCAN received 31 complaints over the summer, according to the report. Fraser said the increase in complaints was mirrored at the California Public Utilities Commission. "We're concerned there's going to be so much confusion in the marketplace and so much perception of confusion in the marketplace that people are simply going to decide it's not worth it to even look at the competitors," Fraser said. The report blasted the local call rate structure, which include arcane terminology such as "local toll calls", "zone use measure," "mileage bands" and "IntraLATA." These make it difficult to make an apples-to-apples cost comparison. "The `transaction costs' involved in researching and then switching service far outweigh most of the saving available to small customers," the report stated. However, Fraser said, even under the current system, many consumers who do their homework and compare the various plans can gain"significant cost savings." "San Diegans who make a lot of calls to Oceanside and other outlying areas... I would encourage those people to make the switch and test the waters," Fraser said. The report ranked MCI as the best local carrier. MCI was praised for having the best prices for daytime toll calls of 17 miles or more and the lowest monthly fee. Pacific Bell got the worst rating, criticized for having the highest rates for local service and the most complicated rate price structure. But even MCI's rating left room for improvement. Moreover, UCAN staff attorney Charles Carbone said he was transferred to MCI's long distance service without permission or "slammed," when he signed up for MCI's local service. Despite repeated calls to MCI, Carbone reported, the problem had not been corrected. UCAN will ship a price and service comparison guide free to those who send a self-addressed stamped enveloped to UCAN headquarters at 1717 Kettner Blvd. 105, San Diego CA 92101. False or erroneous billing by third parties is a common complaint in the report. It said Pacific Bell allowed billing of customers for calls fraudulently placed from prisons and mental institutions, using a long distance carrier, ZPDI. Pacific Bell told those who complained to contact ZPDI to apply for refunds, "thus forcing many customers to deal with an out of state company with even worse customer service procedures than Pacific Bell." UCAN reported that a member's survey of 20 neighbors revealed 16 had received an erroneous billing from ZPDI, as well as members of UCAN staff and Pacific Bell employees. After the scam was reported in the press, Pacific Bell said it had forced ZPDI to issue a large amount of refunds, but has not disclosed how many refunds were issued, the UCAN report said. ZPDI is far from the only company that bills unauthorized charges, according to the report. "These charges are often labeled `conference service' or `collect' call, but are generally connected to overseas phone scams, sex-line calls or scams similar to that accomplished through ZPDI," the report said. "Generally, if customers complain to Pacific Bell, the charges are removed. However, many customers either do not see the charges or consider the $1-$5 as too small to bother contesting. Because it may take repeated calls to get through to a Pacific Bell representative, many customers have little incentive to take the time necessary to contest a charge." Pacific Bell termed the report, while well-intentioned, "misleading," because many of the problems it referred to have in fact been solved. "The bottom line is, there is competition," said Pacific Bell spokesman Maurice Luque. "You can change your local service tomorrow." Pacific Bell has the capacity to handle daily about 4,000 customer requests for service with a competitor, and now gets about 2,000 daily, Luque said. Pacific Bell's parent company, SBC Communications, has spent about $1.2 billion dollars to ensure its service areas are opened to competition, Luque said. Beside obeying the law, Luque said Pacific Bell has an economic incentive to ensure fair competition in its markets: it can only offer long distance service when regulators decide competition is effective at the local level. ------------------------------ From: 73115.1041@NOSPAMcompuserve.com Subject: New US West Calling Card Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 02:21:38 GMT I received an unsolicited "calling card" in the mail from US West. (Well, I didn't ask for the one they sent six months ago either, but since I'm a residential subscriber I suppose they just assumed ...) Anyway, it appears that US West is trying to cash in on the debit calling card fad. They've redesigned the traditional embossed "calling card." The new card no longer has embossed numbers and names, but rather uses printed data. (I've noticed this on a number of other non-credit cards I have received recently. I wonder if it's cheaper to produce the card or are they trying to avoid anyone attempting to use the card in a retail transaction? The card still has the standard mag stripe on the back.) The letter enclosed makes a big deal about US Wests .20/minute anywhere rate. Which actually isn't bad for a card that doesn't have to be prepaid. Closer inspection reveals this not to be such a good deal. Local Calls within US West Region: .50/flat rate (Coin Calls are .25 now, likely to go up as US West has managed to get .35 in most other states) Local Calls elsewhere: .20/minute Long Distance .20/minute Directory .95/limited to two requests Message Delivery .95/message (I suspect this is where they intercept after 3 or 4 rings) Conference Call .40/minute/participant SpeedDial .20/minute (No explanation for this.) So far, so good. The local rates aren't great but basic calls are ok. But then the fine print: All calls other than US West local are surcharged 80 cents. Ouch. That makes calls less than 5 or so minutes very expensive. They also caution that these rates only apply if you use the US West 800 number. Calls using the traditional 0+ are billed at the rates of the carrier handling the call. Oh, and one final item. The letter that came with the previous card made a big deal about how secure the card was because the PIN was not printed on the card. This card has a special area on the back reserved to allow you to write your PIN on. Go figure. Ken ------------------------------ From: Michael Kennedy Subject: Employment Opportunity: Network Management Technician in Chicago Date: 14 Oct 1997 20:57:30 GMT Organization: Great Lakes Technologies Great Lakes Data & Voice Technologies - a leading Value Added Reseller of network communications products and services across the USA - is looking to add to our Network Management Center in downtown Chicago. May you know someone or yourself that would be interested in this position. Thanks :-) http://www.greatlakestech.com Employment Requisition: NMC-0997 Description: Network Management Technician Type: Full Time Location: Chicago, IL. Date Required: Immediate Requestor: Don Franklin 312/258-0600 Ext. 17 Mailto: D.Franklin.GLT@worldnet.att.net This position requires a self-motivated person with excellent organizational skills who is experienced or educated in Wide Area Network (WAN) applications. Exceptional written and verbal skills are necessary, as the position requires extensive client interface. Basic knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Project and Visio are helpful. Experience or knowledge of Local Area Network applications a plus. The Network Management Technician is responsible for remote monitoring, analyzing and troubleshooting client WAN's. The WAN's typically are hybrid applications that may consist of voice, data and voice over frame relay applications and incorporate a variety of manufacturer's products including, but not limited to, 3COM, Micom, Hypercom, Bay Networks, Cisco, ADTRAN and Paradyne. PC knowledge and ability to quickly grasp various management applications is necessary. Additional duties include product configuration and light shipping and receiving. This is a position in a fast paced environment that requires a quick thinking individual that works well independently and who is able to be decisive under pressure. If you or someone you know is interested in this position, please respond via e-mail to requestor. ------------------------------ From: ldecours@frontiernet.net (Lincoln DeCoursey) Subject: Question re: ROLM CBX Date: 13 Oct 1997 16:07:51 GMT Organization: Frontier Internet Rochester N.Y. (716)-777-SURF My employer, a 50+ store grocery chain in western New York has a PBX in each location to handle in-store phone communication, as well as dial-in and dial-out. Additionally, the stores and offices are networked together in that from any phone in any of these systems, you can dial any given phone in any one of the systems by dialing 80-SS-XXX where SS is the store number and XXX is the extension to dial in that store. The phones utilized are standard AT&T analog phones. Each has a sticker on it which identifies the system as "ROLM CBX," and contains general instructions for picking up calls, transfering calls, holding calls, parking calls, etc. My question deals with the interconnectivity in the system and how it is achieved. I am unsure whether calls made to other premises are carried over the analog telco lines, or if there is some leased line implementation for the system, but I am intrigued by the ability to directly ring any given phone in any system. I would speculate that each system has an incoming line which picks up and then accepts some instruction (perhaps DTMF) as to the destination extension. My caller ID identified the number which the system used to generate an outgoing call from the system to my house. In redialing this number, I get a high pitched tone upon connection. I'd like to be able to identify how this interconnectivity works, and how to get into a location's system through this back-door, as opposed to the published phone number which connects to the receptionists. Any resources or instruction would be greatly appreciated. Lincoln DeCoursey ldecours@frontiernet.net ------------------------------ From: combee@techwood.org (Ben Combee) Subject: Re: "Sky Word Plus" - How Does it Work? Date: 16 Oct 1997 03:08:54 GMT Organization: Techwood Broadcasting Foundation -- Austin Bureau Reply-To: combee@techwood.org First, while I do work for Motorola's Paging group, these comments are strictly my own opinion and knowledge and do not represent the official voice of the company. On Tue, 14 Oct 1997 13:53:28 GMT, J.D. Baldwin wrote: > Obviously, this pager *must* be transmitting something. (Right?) I > imagine that it sends some sort of "here I am" code periodically, and > if it receives an acknowledgment, it "knows" it's in Full Service, > otherwise it makes its determination according to whether it can > "hear" other transmissions. > Any information or pointers would be greatly appreciated, and probably > interesting besides. Your description of the system is very close to reality. The protocol these guys use is called ReFLEX (TM), an adaptation of the FLEX (TM) protocol for two-way use. Each two-way and one-and-a-half-way pager has a small low-power transmitter on it that periodically sends a "I'm here" message to the system. It also sends back page acknowledgments and can negotiate redelivery of pages. The basic service areas are those locations that don't yet have receivers installed, so the pager can't communicate back to anyone. ReFLEX (TM) usually is deployed in the 900 MHz paging bands, what is called narrow-band PCS. It was originally setup for the Tango pager in Skytel's two way system that was started in 1996. However, poor sales and slow infrastructure investment caused them to suspend new customers for that. The 1.5-way pagers, since they put a lower burden on the network than 2-way pagers, were seen as a way to use that network while they were continuing their build-up. One thing to notice -- SkyTel is offering nationwide SkyWord Plus for a lot less than nationwide 1-way paging. This is possible because of lower transmitter usage. If your pager tells the system its in one area, the system can direct pages to just those transmitters instead of firing all the transmitters in the country! That saves a lot on bandwidth congestion. Benjamin L. Combee (combee@techwood.org) ...if the highlight of your day is prowling through signatures looking for pithy quotes or neat phrases, then consider a career with the IRS or NSA... ------------------------------ From: brettf@netcom.com (Brett Frankenberger) Subject: Re: New Cellular Phone Experience So Far Organization: Netcom On-Line Services Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 12:07:38 GMT In article , Lisa Hancock wrote: > 6) Be careful charging/recharging. NiCad batteries the phone uses can > develop a memory if not fully discharged then fully charged. They > suggested I leave the phone on to run down, then fully recharge it. > That makes sense to me, although it is a pain since it does require > some advance planning to allow one day to run down and one night to > recharge. This is a very common, and very unsubstantiated, urban legend. Under carefully controlled laboratory conditions, where you repeatedly partially dischange the cells to the *same level* each time, you can sometimes get a memory effect to appear, after a lot of cycles. Under normal random usage, in which you never fully discharge the batteries, but always discharge to a different level, the memory effect does not appear. (Also, most newer phones won't fully discharge the cells, prefering instead to shut themselves off when the voltage drops below a certain level.) Note that you have (probably) for years been partially discharging your car battery everytime you start your car, and then immediately recharging it (with the output of the alternator). It doesn't develop memory. (Of course, it's not NiCad either.) Brett Frankenberger brettf@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (Jay R. Ashworth) Subject: Re: New Cellular Phone Experience So Far Date: 16 Oct 1997 15:15:50 GMT Organization: Ashworth & Associates On 15 Oct 1997 02:02:56 GMT, Lisa Hancock wrote: > Recently I got cellular phone service. I previously posted my experiences > dealing with the sales people. Now here's some notes on usage ... > > 1) How do people drive and talk? > For me at least, there's no way I can drive my car and talk on the > phone, it's simply too distracting with traffic. Yes, I know when we > drive we freely talk to the person next to us, but somehow it's > different on the phone. Considering all the times I was nearly > hit by a distracted driver talking on the phone, I don't know how > people do it. I can drive pretty decently while talking ... the problem for _me_ is navigation. I often hang up and discover that I was headed to somewhere I _often_ go, rather than where I was _actually_ going. ;-) > Dialing while driving is impossible, at least on my phone. The buttons > are pretty tiny, I noticed on other models the keypad is bigger. > (The phone does have a memory, which I assume does help dialing.) Yeah. I originally had one-touch dialing off on my PrimeCo phone. I changed my mind. My theory on this is that we develop a habit of ignoring the outside world when we press a phone receiver to our ear; this is usually a Good Thing ... but obviously, not in a car. Handsfree kits seem to mitigate this. > 2) The clock is deceiving: I am billed from [send] to [end] in whole > minutes. It takes a few seconds to release the call after you hit [end] > which can add another minute to the call. If you think the party didn't > answer and they did, you are billed for the call. Poor AMA on the part of your carrier. _My_ frustration is that the timer on my _digital_ CDMA phone from Qualcomm by way of PrimeCo _could_ give me actual time ... they just didn't _bother_ to engineer the system correctly. > 3) No quick hangups: From the wired phone, I often call people who I know > have answering machines, and hang up after 3 rings if I don't feel like > leaving a message. You can't do that on a cell phone because of the [end] > delay. Again; system level crappy engineering. > 4) Ringing delay. When someone calls me, they'll hear at least 3 rings > before the cell phone starts to ring. A lot of people these days don't > let phones ring very long before hanging up. I must instruct any > callers to let it ring a long time. If I'm driving, I'll need a moment > to get the phone out and to answer it. In a crowded location, I may > not hear the phone. This is a phone-hunting problem ... newer types of networks are better about it. > 6) Be careful charging/recharging. NiCad batteries the phone uses can > develop a memory if not fully discharged then fully charged. They > suggested I leave the phone on to run down, then fully recharge it. > That makes sense to me, although it is a pain since it does require > some advance planning to allow one day to run down and one night to > recharge. Not really. It's not "memory", per se. I've finally found a _good_ treatise on what's actually going on here. Check the sci.electronics FAQ, here: http://www.paranoia.com/~filipg/HTML/FAQ/BODY/F_Battery_info.html It explains what "memory effect" really means. Cheers, Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Member of the Technical Staff Unsolicited Commercial Emailers Sued The Suncoast Freenet "People propose, science studies, technology Tampa Bay, Florida conforms." -- Dr. Don Norman +1 813 790 7592 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #284 ******************************