Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA12140; Wed, 26 Nov 1997 22:09:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 22:09:04 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199711270309.WAA12140@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #331 TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Nov 97 22:09:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 331 Inside This Issue: Happy Thanksgiving Day! Book Review: "Apache: The Definitive Guide" by Laurie/Laurie (Rob Slade) FCC Response to Complaint on Payphone Owner Surcharges (Jim Weiss) New Area Codes and Cellular Overbilling (Michael Schuster) Denver Local-Calling Area May Expand, Postpone Start of 720 (Don Heiberg) Teletraffic Seminar Proceedings (Nick Carver) Synchronous RS232 Modem Signalling (Gordon Dracup) Giving Thanks (Judith Oppenheimer) Last Laugh! Humorously Misleading Cell Phone Ad (Wm. Randolph U Franklin) 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. The URL is: http://telecom-digest.org They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to archives@telecom-digest.org 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 11:05:11 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Apache: The Definitive Guide" by Laurie/Laurie BKAPCHDG.RVW 970507 "Apache: The Definitive Guide", Ben Laurie/Peter Laurie, 1997, 1-56592-250-6, U$34.95/C$49.95 %A Ben Laurie ben@algroup.co.uk %A Peter Laurie %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1997 %G 1-56592-250-6 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$34.95/C$49.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %P 274 %T "Apache: The Definitive Guide" For those who wish to set up their own Web server, Apache has one undisputable advantage: it's free. On the other hand, you can't call up technical support and yell that you aren't getting what you paid for. In fact, you can't call up technical support at all, unless you go to one of the commercial firms that provides it. So, unless you are the type of person who learned UNIX by reading the source code, you probably want some help in getting set up. This book provides detailed, stepwise instructions on getting Apache, installing it, and making it work for you. The authors assume that you have a C compiler, and some familiarity with it, but very little else. Topics include basic introductions, minimal Web sites, CGI (Common Gateway Interface), authentication, content arbitration, indexing, redirection, proxy servers, server-side includes, server status and information, extra modules, the Apache API (application Programming Interface), writing Apache Modules, and security. Appendices list support organizations, compatibility, and the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol. A wry sense of humour pervades the book, enlivening the text throughout. It is hard to say that the jokes aid in the explanations of esoteric material, but the comedy never gets in the way or degenerates into mere sarcasm. The authors have an abiding concern for security that surfaces again and again in the book. Tips and useful pointers are included in almost every section, and the chapter on security is a fine tutorial on the vulnerabilities and loopholes to which all Internet applications are subject. Most non-specialist works are satisfied with telling you to choose good passwords: Laurie, pere et fils, are willing to go to the trouble of giving the reader solid and complete advice. Overall, this book may be another strong reason to choose Apache. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKAPCHDG.RVW 970507 rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca link to virus, book info at http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/rms.html Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER) ------------------------------ From: NBJimWeiss@aol.com (Jim Weiss) Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:38:54 EST Subject: FCC Response to Complaint on Payphone Owner Surcharges One of my (enterprising) independent contractors, upset over the $.284 charge for coinless payphone calls (actually $.30 surcharge from his long distance carrier), went to a payphone to call the FCC complaint number (1-888-CALL FCC). Below is the response he received from the FCC. Thought some of the readers would be interested in seeing this. Also, I wonder whether the FCC has budgeted for payphone call surcharges to its toll-free number?? ----------------- Subject: FCC National Call Center Response Date: Tuesday, November 25, 1997 The following is the information you requested from the FCC National Call Center. Thank you for your inquiry. CONSUMER INFORMATION Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20554 Calls Made From Payphones The Communications Act requires the FCC to take actions to promote competition among payphone service providers and the widespread deployment of payphone services to the benefit of the general public. The Act also requires the FCC to ensure fair compensation to payphone service providers for each and every call placed from payphones. A payphone service provider is the person or entity who owns the payphone instrument, such as the local telephone company; an independent company; or the owner of the premises where the payphone is located. Payphone service providers are called "PSPs" in this brochure. This brochure explains the actions the FCC has taken to carry out its responsibilities. Are The Coin Rates For Local Calls From Payphones Regulated? No. Effective October 7, 1997, the FCC deregulated coin rates for all local calls made from payphones. Prior to 1996, most payphones were provided by local telephone companies and received indirect subsidies through the rates paid by consumers for other types of services. States regulated the coin rate for a local call. The resulting artificially low prices tended to discourage new companies from entering the payphone market and also limited the number of payphones available for the benefit of the public. In 1996, Congress required that payphones no longer be subsidized in order to encourage competition and the greater availability of payphones. The FCC determined that deregulating local coin rates and allowing the marketplace to set the price of local payphone calls is one of the essential steps needed to achieve the goals set by Congress. Deregulation will allow PSPs to receive fair compensation for their services and will encourage the widespread placement of payphones. Also, the FCC anticipates that Americans will have greater access to emergency and public safety services. States may also choose to place public interest payphones in areas where payphones are necessary for health and safety reasons. The Commission intends to actively monitor the payphone marketplace by regularly meeting with representatives from the states, PSPs, and consumer advocates. Must I Pay For An Emergency Call? No. Calls made to emergency numbers, such as 911, and to the Telecommunications Relay Service, a service of use to people with disabilities, will be provided free of charge from payphones. You can also continue to reach an operator without depositing a coin. Can I Still Make Toll-Free Calls From Payphones Without Depositing A Coin? Yes. However, the Communications Act requires the FCC to establish a per-call compensation plan to ensure that all PSPs are fairly compensated for each and every completed intrastate and interstate call using their payphone -- except for emergency calls and telecommunications relay service calls for hearing disabled individuals. Prior to 1996, PSPs often received no compensation for completed intrastate and interstate calls -- including completed toll-free calls -- no matter how frequently callers used payphones to originate calls. The FCC carried out its responsibilities by adopting rules that require long distance telephone companies to compensate PSPs 28.4 cents for each call they receive from payphones, except those calls for which the PSPs already collect compensation under a contractual arrangement. Payphone-originated calls that are unlikely to be the subject of a contract with the PSPs include calls to 800 telephone numbers or 10XXX access code calls which connect callers to long distance telephone companies. The 28.4 cents per-call compensation rate is a default rate that can be reduced or increased at any time through an agreement between the long distance company and the PSP. The FCC encouraged long distance companies and PSPs to contract with each other for more economically efficient compensation rates. Some long distance companies are advising consumers that the FCC decided that consumers making calls from payphones should pay a per-call charge to compensate the PSP. The FCC did not make such a decision. Long distance companies have significant leeway on how to compensate PSPs. The FCC left it to each long distance company to determine how it will recover the cost of compensating PSPs. Tips For Consumers Companies compete for your payphone business. Use your buying power wisely and shop around. If you think that the rate for placing a call from a payphone is too high, a less expensive payphone could be around the corner. Also let the PSP know that the rates are too high. It's in their best interest to meet the needs of their customers. Contact your preferred long distance company and ask for instructions for placing calls through that company from a payphone. Also ask what rates or charges apply to calls placed from payphones. Let the company know if you believe their rates are too high. Then call other long distance companies and ask about their rates. ------------------------------ From: schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) Subject: New Area Codes and Cellular Overbilling Date: 26 Nov 1997 01:50:29 GMT Organization: panix I live in NYC and originally signed with the then-called Cellular One in part because of its large home area. It included the 908 area code of Middlesex County NJ, where I visit frequently and have family. Since this summer, those parts have been re-allocated to area code 732, and permissive dialing ends next month. Nevertheless I reprogrammed all my 908 numbers to 732 very early on, as soon as I realized calls so dialed would go through. Late in the summer, while reviewing my cellular bills, I discovered that coincident with the creation of 732, AT&T Wireless was charging me LONG DISTANCE for all calls placed to 732 numbers, and for all calls PERIOD while I was travelling through Middlesex County (part of my HOME RATE AREA). And so began a monthly ritual -- upon the receipt of each bill I complained that the calls had been mis-routed. No, this is not an AT&T Long Distance issue sir; this is a cellular switch programming issue and is in YOUR domain, etc. Eventually, after some time on hold while the customer rep spoke to someone who knew the story, I got an apology and a credit applied. They were aware of the problem and it would be fixed soon. Today I got my November cycle bill, and sure enough there were more improper long-distance charges. I called Customer Service and hit the roof; this time, besides crediting me they offered me 30 minutes of free airtime for my trouble. Fine. After I hung up it occurred to me that there must be thousands of people like me out there, who are being overcharged for what should be home-rate calls, but never noticed or complained. I've hesitated to call the Public Service Commission over pennies, but now I wonder if it's a systematic issue totalling much more than my pennies per month. What would you do? Mike Schuster | 70346.1745 at CompuServe dot COM schuster at panix dot com | schuster at pol dot net ------------------------------ From: Donald M. Heiberg Subject: Denver Local-Calling Area May Expand, Postpone Start of 720 Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 08:43:02 -0700 Denver, Colorado, "Rocky Mountain News", November 26, 1997 http://insidedenver.com/yourmoney/1126code2.html Local-calling area may expand Plan might postpone start of new area code, would hike phone bills By Rebecca Cantwell Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Phone calls to far-flung corners of the 303 area code would all be local under a plan that state regulators are mulling. That would mean no more long-distance charges between Denver and places such as Longmont, Bailey, Elizabeth, Nederland and Idaho Springs. But it would mean higher monthly telephone bills for all 303 customers, probably at least 65 a month. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has launched a formal study of the issue. No decision will be made until next year, and regulators will hold town meetings first to hear from interested people. The idea of making all of 303 a local calling area is tied to debates that have been going on for months about conserving telephone numbers. After heated controversy, the commission decided over the summer to impose a new area code -- expected to be 720 -- on top of the entire 303 territory because numbers are running out. To delay the starting time for the new area code, the commission and various industry groups have been looking at ways to conserve phone numbers. Currently, telecommunications companies must have a prefix (the first three digits of a local number) in each area where they want to provide service. Those areas are tied to rate centers -- the geographic point of measuring and billing long-distance calls. With 42 rate centers in the 303 area code and prefixes assigned in blocks of 10,000 numbers, a new telecommunications company must have 420,000 numbers to provide service throughout the area code even if it has only a few customers. The commission has been looking at reducing the number of rate centers to cut back on the numbers needed by each company. And making all of 303 a local calling area would be a possible solution to changes that would be required as a result. If that's done, the revenue collected on long-distance calls inside 303 would need to come from somewhere else -- probably local bills. "The idea is, can we do this to postpone the hassle of a new area code, and what are the trade-offs associated with it?'' PUC spokesman Terry Bote said. "One is, you have to raise local rates. There will be people who are not happy with that, and we certainly want to hear from them.'' US West Communications, which collects nearly all the money from local calls and long-distance calls inside 303, would expect such a change to be "revenue-neutral,'' spokesman Jerry Brown said. "It's an interesting idea and worth exploring,'' he said. "If it really does simplify the lives of customers and it does delay implementation of a new area code, we think it's worth the commission looking at.'' The current plan is for 10-digit dialing (using 303 for local calls) to start in February and become mandatory in June, officials of the PUC and the OCC said. The PUC has scheduled hearings to start Feb. 11 to take testimony on the local-dialing issue, including the optimal number of rate centers in the 303 area code, the effect on local telephone rates and whether expanding the local calling area is in the public interest. ------------ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The copy I got of this, per the above, seems to have a small but important ommissions. Early in the article it says local bills would increase under the plan, 'probably 65 a month' without indicating *what* there would be 65 of. I would hope they mean 'cents' rather than 'dollars'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Carver <106736.2751@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Teletraffic Seminar Proceedings Wanted Organization: Quotient Communications Ltd Date: 26 Nov 1997 12:18:07 -0500 Having been told by the usual sources (British Library, etc.) that they are out of print, I am turning to the Usenet community to see if anyone can help me trace a couple of articles. I'm happy to cover copying and any other costs involved in gettin them to me. If you know someone who might help (including the authors), please let me know how to contact them. Firstly, we have the 7th ITC Specialist Seminar held in Morristown, NJ in 1990. I'm after the paper by H Ahmadi and R Guerin entitled 'Bandwidth Allocation in High-speed networks based on the concept of Equivalent Capacity' and secondly, the 10th International Teletraffic Congress held in 1982. J.W. Roberts gave a paper called 'Teletraffic models for the Telecom 1 Integrated Services Network'. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate an e-mail in response as I have to confess that I haven't worked out how to get beyond the first article in any thread in a newsgroup. Many thanks, Nick Carver ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 12:01:01 +0000 From: Gordon Dracup Subject: Synchronous RS232 Modem Signalling Organization: Timesprout I have been trying in vain to use two non-IBM modems (Sonix Volante Centro) to attach two IBM AS/400s over a dial up switched connection using the standard RS232 port on the AS/400s. Both modems support V25bis dialling and use V32terbo to achieve 19200bps. Although the call is dialing out on the first modem and being answered by the second modem, I continue to get line failures, specifically "call cleared, DTR disconnect". If I use an IBM (7852 model 400) modem to initiate the call to the remote non-IBM modem it works. This confirms that my software configuration is correct. The IBM modem has special dip-switch settings which is set to "AS/400 emulation", so I can't find out what this corresponds to in terms of DTR, DSR, RTS, CTS and DCD control. I think the problem may be in the signalling or handshaking, so I would appreciate if there is anyone out there who may be able to tell me how the following should be set : DTR Control (Ignored, controlled by DTE) DSR Control (Forced on, Normal RS232, follows DTR etc) RTS Control (Normal RS232, ignored, controls remote DCD-V.13) CTS Control (force on, normal RS232, turned off, follows DTR) RTS/CTS delay DCD Control (forced on, normal RS232, follows DTR, follows RTS-V.13) Clocking (Internal, external) Any information or suggestions would be much appreciated. Gordon Dracup Cipher Solutions Limited Telephone 0131-477 7717 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 09:15:21 -0500 From: Judith Oppenheimer Reply-To: joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com Organization: ICB TOLL FREE - 800/888 news... commentary... consulting... Subject: Giving Thanks Wishing all a warm and plentiful Thanksgiving. Judith Oppenheimer [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Judith, I'll 'second the motion' and hearing no objection from anyone consider it a unanimous thing from all of us to each of us in the Digest reader family. Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States and an opportunity for all of us to meditate on the rich blessings with which we are bestowed. Everyone, please: sometime in the course of the day on Thursday, take a moment to simply pause and count your blessings. PAT] ------------------------------ From: wrfuse@mab.ecse.rpi.NOSPAM.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin) Subject: Last Laugh! Humorously Misleading Cell Phone Ad Date: 26 Nov 1997 21:31:40 GMT Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA Reply-To: wrfuse@mab.ecse.rpi.NOSPAM.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin) One of the cell phone companies has a TV ad saying that their coverage is so extensive that it even works in Sleepy Hollow. (Visions of The Legend etc). Actually Sleepy Hollow, which was called North Tarrytown, NY until last year, is half an hour north of NYC, is on the commuter railway, and is a few miles from the state Thruway. It would be one of the first places to be covered. Score one for a creative ad writer. Wm. Randolph U Franklin, WRFUSE at MAB.ECSE.RPI.DELETETHIS.EDU [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'll tell you another bit of creative advertising being done by Cellular One here in the Chicago area. They are now heavily promoting prepaid cellular service which works in the same way as prepaid long distance calls. You can go to a Jewel-Osco store here and get a new cellular phone in a box, already in service with number assigned, etc for $99.95. With the phone comes a certain number of minutes already paid for. You can purchase additional minutes at any time, and if the phone breaks or gets lost or stolen that's fine; just go buy another one. The minutes are quite expensive of course; you'd think prepaying would get the time for less, but it does not work that way with prepaid long distance calls either due to too many middlemen involved in the sale, etc. You can take an existing cellular phone you own to them and get it converted in the same way for $39.95 which includes the same initial package of minutes (I think thirty minutes). And the way they are promoting it is the humorous part: it is intended to save you, their valuable customer, the 'hassle' of having to pay the bill each month and the 'hassle' of having to bother with a credit check and possible deposit requirement. The past couple weeks I have seen numerous people carrying these around; they seem quite popular with the unwashed masses. Now not only Jewel-Osco is selling the prepaid cellular phone; today the newspaper had at least six or eight advertisments from various (I think marginal) business places which specialize in pagers, cell phones, etc. offering the same thing. And the rationale is always the same: your time is far to valuable to have to spend it waiting for a credit check or remembering to pay us each month. That is why we are charging you twice as much as it is worth to convert your existing phone (and don't get any ideas about programing the phone yourselves folks, Cell One requires that it be through a dealer) and a per-minute rate reserved for the worst poss- ible customers. No identification needed when purchasing a new phone or converting an established one ... 'you say your name is John Smith? ... that's great ... here's your new phone Mr. Smith ...' and no names needed to purchase additional minutes from several locations. I see lots of great laughs emerging from this over the next year or two as fraud becomes more prevalent than it is already. But who knows? Prepaid phone cards have been a success in some places, so maybe prepaid cellular will be also. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #331 ******************************