TELECOM Digest Sun, 5 Jun 94 11:06:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 272 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: SSC Command References (Rob Slade) Bills Online, Action Needed Now (TAP-Info via James D. Wilson) 800 Traffic Query (Judith Oppenheimer) Second Phone Line: How Can I Do it Myself (Edgar Estrada) How Does the Telephone Work? (Chua Tai Wei) New Book: The Electronic Traveler (Marcus L. Endicott) AT&T to be Held Accountable? (Ken Kopin) 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 GEnie. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, 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. 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: Sat, 04 Jun 1994 18:01:11 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: SSC Command References BKSSCREF.RVW 940318 Specialized Systems Consultants Inc. P.O. Box 55549 Seattle, WA 98155 (206) 527-3385 Fax: (206) 527-2806 bel@ssc.com "UNIX System Command Summary", 1993, 0-916151-61-1 Specialized Systems Consultants publish a series of tutorial and reference cards and booklets. The standard "tri-fold page" size of 8.5" by 3.5" is a bit difficult to fit on a bookshelf. While a bit awkward, it will fit in a shirt pocket or, opened, in a file folder. It fits quite nicely in a suit jacket inside pocket for those going out on service calls. I received an ANSI C reference card, five UNIX (Beginning Commands, System 4 and 4.2 Command Summaries, and Bourne and Korn shell) references, an Emacs reference, a vi tutorial and reference, an MS-DOS Command Summary and an RS-232 reference card. Most prices appear to range between three and ten dollars. The material is generally well chosen and useful. For most quick reference these will be much handier than full documentation. The layout is good, with logical divisions between boxed groups of commands or information tables. Unfortunately, there are oddities, vagaries and outright errors. The RS-232 card gives pinouts for DB25 and DB9 connectors but not the Macintosh's DIN-8. The MS-DOS summary lists CON only as the console screen, PRN only as LPT1 and fails to mention that a .COM file is executable. The Bourne shell tutorial gives a brief introduction to wild cards: it will probably surprise novice users when they find that other UNIX documentation refers to these patterns as regular expressions (or regexp). The UNIX references fare somewhat better, particularly since they are primarily command listings. The tutorials are probably a lot less intimidating for new users than some of the bulkier texts. (And cheaper, too.) The reference cards are handy and reasonably valuable. Likely, their list of titles is growing fairly rapidly. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKSSCREF.RVW 940318. Distribution is permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jun 1994 00:23:11 HST From: NetSurfer Subject: Bills Online, Action Needed Now Message forwarded FYI from TAP. James D. Wilson P. O. Box 15432 Honolulu, HI 96830 Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 23:32:54 -0400 From: email list server To: cpsr-announce@sunnyside.com Subject: Bills Online, Action Needed Now Distributed to TAP-INFO, a free Internet Distribution List (subscription requests to listserver@essential.org) TAXPAYER ASSETS PROJECT - INFORMATION POLICY NOTE (please distribute freely) Crown Jewels Campaign - LEGIS June 2, 1994 - SPECIAL TASK FORCE OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO TAKE ACTION ON INTERNET ISSUES - ACTION NEEDED (NOW) TO GET COPIES OF CONGRESSIONAL BILLS ONLINE THROUGH THE INTERNET - QUICK ACTION CAN MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE by: Mike Ward (mike@essential.org), TAP Jamie Love (love@essential.org), TAP A special 60 day "Task Force on the Internet," has been created within the House of Representatives Committee on House Administration. This Task Force will be issuing a report (possibly the week of June 6-10) on the use of the Internet by the House of Representatives. Among the issues that the Task Force should address is the dissemination of bills being considered by the House. It is critically important to alert Task Force members to your interest in accessing bills before Congress through the Internet. TAP recommends that you email and fax the following House members, telling them that the House of Representatives should make available all bills pending before Congress through ftp, email ftp and gopher. Members of the TASK FORCE ON THE INTERNET are: Thomas Manton (D-NY) ph. 202-225-3965 fax 202-225-1909 NO EMAIL Sam Gejdenson (D-CT) ph. 202-225-3965 fax 202-225-2076 bozrah@hr.house.gov Dale Kildee (D-MI) ph. 202-25-3611 fax 202-225-6393 NO EMAIL Bill Thomas (R-CA), Ranking Minority Member Comm. on House Admin. ph. 202-225-2915 fax 202-225-8798 NO EMAIL Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) ph. 202-225-7761 fax 202-225-8673 NO EMAIL Also important is: Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking minority member of the Joint Committee on Printing ph. 202-225-2715 fax 202-225-5375 ----------------------------------- Our letter reads as follows: Representative Sam Gejdenson, et. al Task Force on the Internet U.S. House of Representatives Dear Representative: We are writing to urge you to make all pending bills available on the Internet. We have been asking for online access to congressional bills for three years. It is our understanding that the principal opposition to this has come from a handful of commercial data vendors. We think that the time has come for Congress to think in terms of how it can make democracy work better for the public, rather than find ways to enrich a few commercial interests. If Congress can find millions of dollars for Congressional franking privileges, sending out thinly disguised campaign literature, it can find a few thousand dollars to put copies of pending legislation online so that ordinary citizens can better monitor the activities of Congress. Thank you. Sincerely James Love Mike Ward Taxpayer Assets Project ------------------------------------ GPO Access Program Announcement on "enrolled bills" Several readers wrote us in regards to a post circulated on the Internet announcing the Government Printing Office's plan to make bills accessible through the Internet on June 8th. The announcement about the GPO Access Program only pertained to bills already passed by both the House and Senate, "enrolled bills", that are awaiting the President's signature. These bills are of little use for citizen participation in the democratic process since they have already been passed by congress. mike -------------------------- letter from Representative Charlie Rose Attached is a letter from Rep. Charlie Rose (crose@hr.house.gov), Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, responding to those who wrote him in regards to the May 9th TAP-INFO, "Zimmer Urges House Legislation Be Accessible on the Internet." Dear Interested Network Citizen: Thank you for your recent interest and thoughtful comments regarding the availability of proposed legislation on the Internet. As you may know, the Committee on House Administration, which I Chair, and House Information Systems have been working hard to make Member and Committee offices accessible to the Internet. Currently, twenty-five Members and several committees have established Internet mail boxes. In March I announced the availability to all Member offices public electronic mail services using the Internet. We are also providing access for Member offices directly to the Internet for staff research. As part of these efforts, House Information Systems has also established a server on the Internet which uses the University of Minnesota GOPHER software to provide a wide variety of information about the House of Representatives, its Members, and committees. This server is accessible on the Internet, and is named GOPHER.HOUSE.GOV. Information regarding the public electronic mail system, which provides a mail box for constituents to send electronic mail messages to their Member of Congress, can be obtained by sending an electronic mail message to: CONGRESS@HR.HOUSE.GOV. The Committee on House Administration is currently considering various policy alternatives regarding the release of the electronic version of congressional documents printed by the Government Printing Office. In fact I have created a task force, which conducted a hearing this past Wednesday, May 5, to explore those alternatives. After receiving input from the task force, the Committee will direct House Information Systems to add the electronic data base version of printed documents that can be economically and accurately made available. I would also encourage you to write Bill Thomas of California, the Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on House Administration and Pat Roberts of Kansas, the Ranking Minority Member of the Joint Committee on Printing. It is important that they know your views of this important subject. Once again, thank you for your interest and please watch for additional announcements regarding the availability of on-line congressional information. With my very best wishes, Sincerely, Charlie Rose Chairman -------------- TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Taxpayer Assets Project (TAP). TAP was founded by Ralph Nader to monitor the management of government property, including information systems and data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and other government assets. TAP-INFO reports on TAP activities relating to federal information policy. tap-info is archived at ftp.cpsr.org; gopher.cpsr.org and wais.cpsr.org Subscription requests to tap-info to listserver@essential.org with the message: subscribe tap-info your name. Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: tap@essential.org ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 12:41:21 -0400 From: Judith Oppenheimer Subject: 800 Traffic Query I have a client who plans on retaining an inbound telephone center/fulfillment house for an advertising campaign. My client wants to use one of his existing 800 numbers for this campaign. How can he transfer service of the 800 number from his business location to an adequately equipped and staffed telemarketing center, without losing ownership of his number? We assume this is done all the time, but have no idea how. Can anyone advise? Please respond by email to Producer@pipeline.com. Judith Oppenheimer Producer@pipeline.com ------------------------------ From: ab503@lafn.org (Edgar Estrada) Subject: Second Phone Line: How Can I Do it Myself Organization: Los Angeles Free-Net Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 19:45:24 GMT I'd like to add a second phoneline in my apartment. I called the local phone company and they want $100 just to install the jack. I suspect that I can probably do it myself. I remember reading somewhere that most new aparments have been wired for two lines so all I would have to buy is a phone panel with two jacks and connect the right wires. Would this be right? If so what are the right wire? Does anybody know of a how to book that will tell me how to do it? Thanks, Edgar ------------------------------ From: taiwei@solomon.technet.sg Subject: How Does the Telephone Work? Date: 5 Jun 1994 01:16:00 GMT Organization: Technet, Singapore I am looking for information on how normal telephones (POTS) work. I am particularly interested to know: 1. How are signals sent into the network? 2 How are signals received from the network? 3 How will loop current affect 1 & 2? 4 Are there any differences between POTs of various countries? 5 Technical Specifications for POTs (eg. Ringing voltages, Return Loss, Call Progress Tones) 6. How the telephone network will affect modems (eg. Phase distortions, Amplitude Distortions, etc) Any pointers to technical documentations (FCC, BELL, ITU, BT, etc), FTPable documents or any other sources would be most appreciated. 7. During a recent trip to the US, I note that many hotel phones are digital types and do not work with normal modems... I also read somewhere that there are special converters that can adapt modems to work on such systems. Where can I find more technical information on such systems? Are all digital systems (PABX) the same? 8. I understand that in Europe, there are special requirements to 'seize' the telephone line, something about ground start and mute relays ... any idea what these refer to? Thanks, Chua Tai Wei MediaCom Technologies Tel: 65 299 4808 287, Beach Road, #03-00 Fax: 65 299 4828 Singapore 0719 Internet: taiwei@solomon.technet.sg Republic of Singapore t.chua@ieee.org ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Jun 1994 05:05:20 -0700 From: Marcus L. Endicott Subject: New Book: The Electronic Traveler THE ELECTRONIC TRAVELER: DIRECTORY OF TOURISM INFORMATION SOURCES copyright 1994 M. L. Endicott all rights reserved worldwide With a Forward by Steven K. Roberts of Nomadic Research Labs as the title says, The Electronic Traveler is a directory of tourism information available to everyone with a computer and a telephone: it is a guidebook to travel information sources on the emerging information superhighway. Although the much touted "information superhighway" is under construction, its principal components are already in evidence and many lanes are open for use. As this historic technological convergence and social restructuring takes place right before our eyes, The Electronic Traveler provides signposts, empowering you to participate in this process. It explains exactly what travel and tourism information is available on the information highway and how to access it. It covers the vast Internet, popular proprietary interactive systems, Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs), independent bulletin board systems (BBSs), and commercial fulltext databases. It is for everyone who loves travel and the world: from the traveling public to the industry that provides them with services and products. The Electronic Traveler will help you learn of and about destinations and how best to get there, including buying transportation and accommodation. It will help you find people and places, organizations and events, restaurants and stores, museums and libraries, historic sites and scenic vistas, entertainment and adventure to satisfy your individual needs and desires. It will help you amuse yourself in transit, as well as keep you in better contact with home while away. It will help you connect with travel partners. The Electronic Traveler will not only do all this and more but will also help you get the best value for your time and money. ORDER FORM: The Electronic Traveler: Directory of Tourism Information Sources Publication Date: June 1, 1994 Format: Spiral Bound, approx. 130 pages Cost: U.S. $50.00, postpaid (priority mail U.S., airmail outside U.S.) Enclose check or money order payable to M. L. Endicott with order form and mail to: M. L. Endicott, P.O. Box 20837, Saint Simons Island, Georgia 31522-0437, USA Number of Copies: Amount Enclosed: Your Name: Street Address or P.O. Box: City and State: Postal Code and Country: TABLE OF CONTENTS 0.0 Introduction 0.1 Origins Of The Information Superhighway 0.2 Origins Of This Book 0.3 What To Expect From This Book 0.4 What To Bring To This Book 0.5 Short List Of Useful Books And Periodicals 0.6 Overview Of The Matrix 0.7 About The Internet 0.8 Some Major Online Functions 0.9 Information Technology In Travel And Tourism Today 1.0 Internet/Usenet/Bitnet 1.1 Newsgroups 1.2 Mailing Lists 1.3 F.A.Q.s: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FILES/GOPHER/WORLDWIDE WEB 1.4 List of Travel Related Worldwide Web and Gophers on the Internet 2.0 Proprietary Systems 2.1 America Online (AOL.COM) 2.2 CompuServe (CompuServe.COM) 2.3 Delphi (Delphi.COM) 2.4 eWorld (eWorld.COM) 2.5 GEnie (genie.geis.com) 2.6 Institute for Global Communications (IGC.APC.ORG) 2.7 National Videotex Network (NVN.COM) 2.8 Prodigy (prodigy.com) 2.9 TogetherNet (together.org) 2.10 Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (well.com) 3.0 Computer Reservation Systems/Consumer CRS 3.1 Eaasy Sabre 3.2 OAG Electronic Edition 3.3 WORLDSPAN Travelshopper 3.4 TravelFile/ORG 4.0 Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) 4.1 BBS Software Support BBS 4.2 List of Travel-Related BBS Listkeepers 4.3 BBS Networks 4.4 Travel BBS List - Short 4.5 Travel BBS List - Long 5.0 Commercial Fulltext Databases 5.1 General Fulltext Databases 5.2 Travel Periodicals Online 5.3 Travel Databases 6.0 International Telephony/Connectivity 6.1 Where-To 6.2 How-To 6.3 What-To 7.0 Travel Information Technology Trade Organizations 7.1 HEDNA 7.2 ITTA 7.3 CASMA 8.0 Bibliography 8.1 Travel Information Technology Books 8.2 Internet Books 8.3 Travel Information Technology Periodicals 4.4 Travel BBS List - Short Active as of April 1994: Access America 918-747-2542 Alaska Information Cache 907-373-3205 American Travel Network 704-567-0893 Back Lounge of the Tour Bus 908-637-6336 Backpacker's Wilderness 305-245-7601 CABB (Consular Affairs Bulletin Board) 202-647-9225 Cave God BBS 513-890-6261 ChicAAgo Hanger & The Eagles Nest BBS 708-980-1613 Colorado TravelBank 303-671-7669 Digital Inn 303-296-1300 DirectLink subscriber-only Europe Through The Back Door(ETBD)BBS 206-771-1902 Export-Import (ExIm) Bank BBS 202-566-4699 FAA Headquarters BBS 202-267-5697 FedWorld Gateway 703-321-8020 Fountain Travel BBS 0273 584827 Gaia Passage 912-265-0784 Hawaii DBED BBS 808-586-2496 Home Exchange Network 407-869-5956 Immigration Law BBS 718-463-1091 Independent Travel Technology Association (ITTA) BBS (c/o ARINC BBS) 410-573-3244 LeisureTyme Free Travel Club 401-943-7093 Modern Traveller 7-0562-425901 National Park Service 215-597-2710 OSSN BBS subscriber-only Outdoor Almanac 206-363-0195 Outdoor Education BBS 216-374-8850 Outdoors BBS 317-887-9466 PCTravel 919-831-4848 Sun Vacation & World Travel 914-758-2485 Time Traveler BBS 886-4-276-0160 Travel Connection 415-691-0954 Travel Friends Information Service 800-328-2427 (Interspan) 303-573-1800 (US West) Travel Info Net 519-428-9287 Travel Mates BBS 708-928-0281 Travel Online (St. Louis Online) 314-973-4073 314-625-3874 314-625-4045 Travel Online Recreation Info System 708-830-4BBS Travel Search BBS 914-358-0480 Traveller-Box 49-7664-95185 Travelmatic 39-11-502423 USCS BBS (U.S. Customs Service) 703-440-6155 Vacation Source 800-868-7555 303-738-0972 Vacationland (New Hampshire) 603-444-0701 World Travel Online 212-717-5922 Worldwide Brochures 218-847-3027 Apparently defunct: Airline BBS/DFW (System One) 817-540-2794 Alexair Travel 513-836-8170 AlpineTrail Source 206-882-0110 Belize Tourism 011501233711 Boundary Waters BBS 218-365-6907 Game & Travel BBS 415-221-6456 International Travel Briefing Service n.a. ModemCity/Europe-On-Line n.a. Premier Vacations & Travel BBS 619-741-2392 The Traveler BBS 804-420-9573 The Traveler 305-944-4394 US Information Agency Bulletin Service (USIA) BBS n.a. ------------------------------ From: aa377@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ken Kopin) Subject: AT&T to be Held Accountable? Date: 5 Jun 1994 06:19:13 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: aa377@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ken Kopin) I just witnessed a commercial from AT&T which implies that we will all soon have Personal AI assistants! Cute little Doggies, even! (I guess they didn't think a gopher would interest most 'regular people') Don't believe it?? YOU WILL. And the Company that will bring it to you? AT&T Now, either I have fallen farther behind in my reading than I think I have or that kind of interactive AI assistant isn't going to make it here in time to see The Simpsons' 20th Aniversary Special :-) Can AT&T actually get away with this kind of misleading advertising? Now granted, they never laid out any kind of time table for this stuff, but I think it's safe to imply from "YOU WILL" that they intend to get ALL THIS STUFF to market within one lifetime. **Dramatization** Have you ever ordered Earl Gray Tea ... from a hole in the wall? Have you ever called your shipmates ... by talking into your jewelry? Have you ever climbed a mountain ... 10^7 lightyears from the nearest planet? Have you ever seen a commercial that was SO outlandish in it's claims ... ... You expected to see a pink bunny with a drum wander in? YOU WILL! ... (eventually) It's just so annoying ... Thank you for your bandwidth. I feel much better now. Internet: aa377@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just this morning I heard a radio commercial saying AT&T was now actively competing with Ameritech/Illinois Bell for local traffic between the 312/708 area codes. If local calls here are to points (relative to the calling party) in the 'C' or 'D' bands (the most expensive of the local intra-lata calls here) then according to the message on the radio, AT&T will be less expensive. The commercial said one will save 'up to twenty percent' on those calls by prepending 10288 (or actually 'one-oh-ATT' was the way it was phrased in the commercial) to the dialing string. This will be interesting to test out. If any Digest readers in the 312/708 area routinely make calls to far-away local points (what would be a 'C' or 'D' band call for you) then you might want to test out AT&T's claims. Please note that 1+ from/to 312/708 still defaults to local service via Illinois Bell. You need to do it 10288 + 1 +. Let us know. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #272 ******************************