TELECOM Digest Mon, 4 Apr 94 12:22:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 162 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FAQ: Telephone Call-Back Service Providers (v1.1) (Bruce Hahne) Globalcom Inernational Callback Service (Scott C. Bundren) AT&T Price Changes on International Calls (Van Hefner) LEC Competition/Value of Service (00r0nolting@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu) Where Can I Find Back Issues? (Javier Montero) Need Advice on Terminal Server For PPP Access (Ben Lippolt) Re: Will Widespread Use of Cell Phones Reduce Crime? (Brian Gordon) Re: Will Widespread Use of Cell Phones Reduce Crime? (Jon Anhold) Re: Will Widespread Use of Cell Phones Reduce Crime? (Robert S. Helfman) 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. 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 compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers. To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com. ** 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 gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: FAQ: Telephone Call-Back Service Providers (v1.1) Date: Mon, 04 Apr 94 17:38:04 +0900 From: Bruce Hahne LIST OF COMPANIES PROVIDING INTERNATIONAL CALL-BACK SERVICE version 1.1 March 24, 1994 Introduction: This list started as an attempt to gather information about companies which provide call-back services to Japan. Such companies allow you to call from Japan to the U.S. at U.S. rates instead of at the (much less competitive) rates set by Japan's 3 international phone companies. I have since found that most call-back companies provide call-back services to many different countries, so I will not limit the distribution of this post to newsgroups such as soc.culture.japan and fj.life.in-japan. However, the pricing information I give has a bias towards examples connecting to or from Japan. This document is in the public domain. Please pass it around freely and help people to save some money! Please send additional information on old or new callback companies to Bruce Hahne at any of the addresses listed at the end of this post. Companies are listed in alphabetical order. This information is NOT guaranteed accurate, and may be based in part on advertisements or fliers which are out of date, as well as on 3rd-party reports. For full details and up-to-date pricing information, contact the companies directly. NAME: Business Communications Management, Inc. CONTACT INFO: Business Communications Management, Inc. 1320 El Capitan Drive, Suite 300 Danville, CA 94526 Phone: 1-510-277-3030 Fax: 1-510-277-3555 Internet: vthiry@netcom.com HOW IT WORKS: Call your access number (in the U.S.?), then hang up. Their computer calls you back at a preselected number. BILLING: $50 one-time enrollment fee. $25 monthly minimum. Billed to your credit card. SAMPLE RATES: Japan to U.S. or U.S. to Japan: $0.45/min. Japan to U.K. or U.K. to Japan: $0.74/min. Japan to Canada or Canada to Japan: $0.68/min. Japan to Germany or Germany to Japan: $0.91/min. (30-second minimum per call, billed in 6-second increments) COMMENTS: Rates are the same at all times of the day and week. Monthly statement is mailed to you. No PIN. You can register as many call-back numbers as you want. NOTES: - This company is a reseller of the MTC PASSPORT service, also available from MTC listed below. They do not resell the MTC OneCard mentioned in the MTC entry. - Vthiry@netcom.com appears willing to fax out rate sheets so that you have pricing information in writing. NAME: CSI (Communications Systems International) CONTACT INFO: Communications Systems International, Inc. 121 E. Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 226A Colorado Springs, CO 80903 USA Phone: 1-719-471-3332 Fax: 1-719-471-2893 or 1-719-564-0541 Internet: HVGriner@delphi.com Compuserve: 73174,2250 HOW IT WORKS: Dial an unlisted number assigned to you in the U.S. Their computer doesn't answer, but calls you back after you hang up, giving you a U.S. dial tone. BILLING: $250 refundable deposit required for account setup. $27.50 monthly service fee if your bill is under $100/month. Billed directly or via credit card. Billed in 6-second increments, not 1-minute increments. SAMPLE RATES: Per-minute costs from Japan to various sites are, in U.S. dollars: Japan Time: 8am - 2pm 2pm - 11pm 11pm - 8am first add'l first add'l first add'l Country or ZONE min. min. min. min. min. min. --------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------------- Australia 4.48 2.07 3.98 1.99 4.51 2.19 United Kingdom 3.36 1.88 3.23 1.79 3.35 1.98 United States 2.52 1.38 2.41 1.30 2.56 1.48 COMMENTS: Can be set up for any of 235 countries. No PIN. It seems as if you will always be called back at the same number, though this isn't completely clear from their P.R. materials. Full pricing information available on MS-dos disk. Speed dialing available. NAME: Logical / Kokusai Telecom CONTACT INFO: 2-1-1 Minamidai Nakano-ku Tokyo 164, Japan (03) 5385-4701 Other information presently unavailable. Supposedly their rates are 25% below those of KDD, at all times. This company is the Japanese agent for a U.S. company. NAME: MTC OneCard CONTACT INFO: MTC Passport Telemanagement Call Clearance Center 55 S. Market St., Suite 1435 San Jose, CA 95113 1-800-967-5382 or (408) 298-2985 Fax: (408) 298-6905 HOW IT WORKS: Dial local access number, your PIN, the phone number you're calling FROM, then hang up. Their computer calls you back and gives you a U.S. dial tone. BILLING: $5 for initial account setup. Billed through your credit card. SAMPLE RATES: From Japan to U.S.: $2.50 per call + 46.3 cents/minute? COMMENTS: Works from anywhere in the world with a local access number: about 45 countries. Other services (speed dialing, conference calls, etc.) also available or will be available soon. NOTES: - MTC also sells a callback service called "PASSPORT", listed below. - I have had serious problems trying to figure out the facts behind what services MTC offers and where to contact them to request service. So far I have 3 postal addresses, 4 phone numbers, 2 fax numbers, and at least one person has reported being told that MTC doesn't offer the "OneCard". This is clearly not true, since I have one. See the entry below for more MTC addresses and phone numbers. - I do not have anything in writing directly from MTC giving their per-call and per-minute rates. I have reports of $2.50/call plus 46.3 cents per minute from Japan, but the math on my first bill does not match these numbers. I would suggest contacting them directly for pricing information. - MTC is allegedly receiving 100 new customers a day, so you may need to be patient about signing up and receiving information. NAME: MTC Passport CONTACT INFO: MTC Telemanagement Corporation 1304 Southpoint Boulevard Petaluma, CA 94954 1-800-999-2682 or 1-800-733-2682 Fax: (707) 769-5940 or Passport International Telemanagement 925 Lakeville St. #318 Petaluma, CA 94952 HOW IT WORKS: 2nd-hand information suggests it works as follows: dial local access number, your PIN, then hang up. Their computer calls you back at a predetermined number and gives you a U.S. dial tone. BILLING: $50 one-time enrollment fee. $25 monthly minimum. SAMPLE RATES: From Japan to U.S.: 46.3 cents/minute, no per-call charge? NOTES: - See notes above on MTC OneCard. - The Passport service is also resold by Business Communications Management, listed earlier. NAME: Progressive Communications CONTACT INFO: P.O. Box 5890 Athens, OH 45701-5890 Fax: 614-592-4970 Internet: dprince@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu COMMENTS: - Information presently unavailable, but hopefully will be in place by the time I release version 1.2 of this FAQ. NAME: Telepassport CONTACT INFO: P.O. Box 1003 Chicago, IL 60690 Fax: 1-708-329-0572 HOW IT WORKS: There are two main methods: 1: Dial a U.S. number given to you by Telepassport, then hang up. Their computer calls you back at your home number. PIN optional. 2: Dial a local toll-free number for Japan, enter account number and PIN, then enter a number which requests a callback to wherever you are. BILLING: $25/month minimum. Billed via credit card or via electronic funds transfer (bank to bank). SAMPLE RATES: From Japan to U.S., standard/discount/economy rates: .98/.85/.79 ($/minute) COMMENTS: PIN is 4 digits. You receive monthly statements. Service available all over the world. Message forwarding, voice mail, and other services available. For extensive information, email the following message to tel-archives@lcs.mit.edu : reply YOURNAME@YOURSITE.YOUR.DOMAIN info telepassport end Disclaimer: I don't work for any of these companies. Bruce Hahne Current address: bruce@jise.isl.melco.co.jp Lifetime address: hahne@acm.org ------------------------------ From: scottb@cats.ucsc.edu (Scott C Bundren) Subject: Globalcom International Callback Service Date: 4 Apr 1994 05:16:00 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz *****GLOBALCOM INTERNATIONAL CALLBACK SERVICE BEGINS APRIL 15****** Globalcom 2000 is a U.S. based telecommunications company offering Prepaid calling cards and long distance service to residential and commercial clients. Globalcom 2000 uses the WilTel fiber optic network for superior quality telephone service. On April 15th, 1994, Globalcom will begin to offer International Callback service to clients worldwide. HOW IT WORKS: The International Callback user dials a number which is a toll free call from anywhere in the world, and receives a busy signal. The customer then hangs up the phone, and the system calls them back, giving them access to U.S. lines and low Globalcom rates on International calling. SAMPLE RATES: All rates are per minute, for anytime of day Australia $0.88 France $0.56 Germany $0.57 Hong Kong $0.66 India $1.27 Japan $0.63 Sweden $0.54 United Kingdom $0.44 Features: -- The most sophisticated and technologically advanced callback system in the world. -- 24-hour operator assistance. -- Tremendous savings: Call from outside the USA to the USA at discount rates saving you 20%-70%. -- Call from outside the USA to other countries, including across closed political borders. -- Your personal/business voice mail message service in the USA--FREE. -- Fax service: Store and Foward -plus- Fax Mail Boxes. -- Access to all USA toll free 800 numbers. -- Immediate access to Directory Assistance anywhere in the USA. A complete rate sheet is available by e-mail. Please send requests or questions to scottb@cats.ucsc.edu. ------------------------------ From: vantek@aol.com Date: Mon, 04 Apr 94 09:00:44 EDT Subject: AT&T Price Changes on International Calls AT&T LOWERS PRICES ON INTERNATIONAL COLLECT CALLS SHORT HILLS, N.J. (APRIL 1) BUSINESS WIRE - March 31, 1994 AT&T customers can now save money when making collect calls to the United States from more than 125 countries using AT&T USADirect (R) Service. The new prices go into effect on April 13, thanks to a tariff filed this week with the FCC. "With these reductions, the price of a five-minute collect call on USADirect will be reduced by up to 27 percent," said Mike Dimperio, group product manager for AT&T Direct services. With AT&T's reduced prices, a customer who makes a five-minute collect USADirect call from London to New York would pay only $9.89, a 23 percent reduction from the previous price of $12.89. A similar call to the U.S. from Germany has dropped almost $3.00, from $12.04 to $9.36, a reduction of over 22 percent. AT&T also filed modest price increases on AT&T USADirect calling card rates. These rate revisions for calling card calls from 113 countries to the United States average about a 2.5 percent increase per call. Millions of people worldwide -- business people, vacationers, students and military persons -- use AT&T USADirect and AT&T World Connect (sm) Service for fast, convenient and economical telephone access to the United States and over 75 countries. "These services let customers call the U.S., or country-to-country, from more countries than any other telecommunications company," Dimperio said. AT&T USADirect and AT&T World Connect Service are available simply by dialing a toll-free access number. Callers are connected directly to an English-speaking AT&T operator or voice prompt to place calling card and collect calls. AT&T's international operators provide service in eight languages. Additionally, AT&T offers customers automated calling card and collect calls without operator assistance from more than 60 countries. Other AT&T USADirect and AT&T World Connect Service benefits include: o Sequential calling of up to 10 consecutive numbers o Voice messaging services allow callers to record a message and have it delivered to virtually any phone in 170 countries o Callers can conference up to 500 people in up to 270 countries on the spur of the moment or by reservation o Callers can gain access to AT&T Language Line Services for over-the-phone interpretations from English to more than 140 languages o Instant connection to all U.S. 800 numbers o Instant access to U.S. and international directory assistance o Customer service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week For AT&T Calling Card calls via AT&T USADirect, AT&T True World subscribers get a five percent discount off the cost of the call. And True World customers who call their designated country receive an additional 15 percent -- for a total of 20 percent -- on AT&T Calling Card calls via USADirect. For $3 a month, True World offers savings of up to 35 percent for customers who make international calls. AT&T USADirect customers who are also enrolled in the AT&T True Rewards(sm) program and spend at least $25 a month in long-distance services receive points that can be redeemed for frequent flier miles and long distance gift certificates. For more information on AT&T USADirect Service, customers in the U.S. may call 1-800-331-1140. CONTACT: AT&T, Short Hills, N.J. Pat Robinson, 908/221-7949 (office) 201/292-1557 (home) or Maureen Lynch, 201/564-3265 (office) 908/580-1125 (home) ----------------- Van Hefner Vantek Communications vantek@aol.com ------------------------------ From: 00r0nolting@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu Subject: Information Needed on LEC Competition/Value of Service Date: 4 Apr 94 10:04:02 EST Organization: Ball State University, Muncie, In - Univ. Computing Svc's I urgently need information on pricing regulations in the local exchange with regard to universal service subsidies. I have heard the term "value of service" but am unable to find how the higher priced business phone subsidizes the rural phone. Is part of the monthly fee put into a fund, part of every local call? Three of us are participating in a competition and have to present our ideas on Friday, April 8th, in the morning. A short explanation or a reference will be appreciated. Anyone who wants to can have our handout e-mailed to them next week. Thanks, Reinhard Nolting, CICS, BSU 00r0nolting ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 10:36:17 UTC+0200 From: Javier Montero Subject: Where Can I Find Back Issues? Hi, Where can I find the back issues of TELECOM Digest? Is there another mag like this? Thanks a lot. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You can have thirteen year's worth of back issues of this Digest by checking out the Telecom Archives. You can get there using anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu; then when connected you would do 'cd telecom-archives/back.issues'. They are in batches of fifty issues with the most recent fifty or so at any given time available individually in the 'recent.single.issues' sub-directory or the 'telecom.recent' file. You can also use Gopher or WEB. In addition you can use the Telecom Archives Email Information Service, and a help file for that is available on request from me. Since like my competitor {The New York Times} I print all the news that fits (both the amount of space available and my own philis- ophical perspective on life), you need look no further. :) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Apr 1994 06:51:01 GMT From: B.J.Lippolt@research.ptt.nl (Ben Lippolt) Subject: Need Advice on Terminal Server For PPP Access Reply-To: B.J.Lippolt@research.ptt.nl Organization: PTT Research, The Netherlands Hi, We want to start a pilot with PPP. We're looking for a terminal server (with 8 ports) which will be connected to our ethernet and which should support at least PPP (and preferable also (c)slip). Any suggest- ions about good brands, models, etc, positive as well as negative are welcome. Thanks for any info. Ben Lippolt ------------------------------ From: briang@netcom.com (Brian Gordon) Subject: Re: Will Widespread Use of Cell Phones Reduce Crime? Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Sun, 3 Apr 1994 19:33:43 GMT In article lchiu@crl.com (Laurence Chiu) writes: > Out of interest, I presume that when you call 911 from your home phone > you reach a dispatch service which is local to your community. So if > you call 911 from a cell phone, which dispatch service do you reach? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In a lot of places, including the Chicago > metro area you don't reach anyone. 911 goes to intercept telling you > in an emergency to dial the operator for assistance. In other place where > there is only one central dispatch, it goes there. PAT] In CA, it goes to the nearest CHP (California Highway Patrol) dispatch center. At their discretion, they can transfer to an appropriate 911 dispatch center, but a very high percentage of the calls are CHP matters anyway (breakdowns and the like). Brian G. Gordon briang@netcom.COM bgg on DELPHI 70243,3012 on Compu$erve BGordon on GENie BGordon2 on AOL ------------------------------ From: jganhold@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jon Anhold) Subject: Re: Will Widespread Use of Cell Phones Reduce Crime? Date: 4 Apr 1994 13:24:48 GMT Organization: The Ohio State University In Cleveland, we have CECOM/CEMAC. It's an Emergency Management Agency with office space downtown. One of the departments is a central emergency dispatch, where they can talk to all of the suburbs Police and Fire Departments in case of a city/county-wide emergency. 911 calls go there from Cell phones, so it's city-independant. Jon Anhold N8USK jganhold@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu ------------------------------ From: helfman@aero.org (Robert S. Helfman) Subject: Re: Will Widespread Use of Cellphones Reduce Crime? Date: Mon, 4 Apr 1994 00:11:54 -0800 Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'm glad I don't live there any longer > also. First of all, 911 does not work from cell phones here. PAT, you seemed to imply that Los Angeles' inner-city was "rotten to the core". It isn't true. I live here. The streets are not ruled by gangs, unless you consider the one that rides in the L.A.P.D. cars and wears blue. > 'Mr. Good Citizen' as they sometimes mock the callers to 911 when talking > on the radio, your number is recorded and they can get back to you if they > wish -- which is fine, except! Try reporting a serious crime which you > witnessed. If the criminal is caught, *you* will be subpoened to come to > court and give your eye-witness account. *You* will be hounded and harassed > by the ACLU attorney appointed to represent the defendant. *Your* integrity > will be called into question. Defendants have the right, as I believe they > should, to confront their accuser ... that's you if you were the one > calling 911 to report it. PAT, you should be ashamed of yourself for bad-mouthing the ACLU. First, the ACLU rarely handles the initial defense of a suspect. Their work is almost always on appeals (at least in criminal matters). And they aren't defending a particular defendant - they're defending a matter of constitutional law. You will note that they have defended the Ku Klux Klan and Oliver North and other such "non-liberal" defendants. Lawyers appointed by courts to defend indigents are almost always a public defender (or a private attorney appointed to defend one of multiple defendants when there would a conflict of interest if the public defender handled all the defendants). As an ACLU member, I take personal offense at your sometimes mindless conservative blather. For a guy with a sometimes wicked sense of humor, you take some things entirely to seriously. And I'll be the most surprised person on the Net if you let this posting into comp.dcom.telecom (That's a dare, PAT!) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In a lot of places, including the Chicago > metro area you don't reach anyone. 911 goes to intercept telling you > in an emergency to dial the operator for assistance. In other place where > there is only one central dispatch, it goes there. PAT] In Los Angeles, dialing 911 from a cellular phone gets the California Highway Patrol dispatcher. In Southern California, it's important to know exactly what jurisdiction you're in. There are embedded sections of unincorporated L.A. County, served by the County Sheriff, within the City of Los Angeles. Use of 911 for reporting out-of-service traffic lights, water main breaks, car fires, etc. is encouraged here, by PacTel cellular and is free, 24-7. To save the dispatcher time, I just ask for the specific agency I need: City of L.A. Transportation, L.A. Department of Water and Power, L.A. Fire Department, etc. The dispatchers seem to appreciate this approach since it gets them off the line much faster. By the way, the response time is phenomenal. I was driving one evening with a friend and spotted a car fire. I called 911 and 1 1/2 minutes later, as we passed Engine Company 94's station house, the red lights came on and the guys (and woman, of course) were roaring out headed for the car. I've had similar response from DWP for water mains -- which can do horrible things to a street in just minutes if someone doesn't get on them right away. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here we do not use 911 to report open hydrants, out of order traffic signals, railroad crossing gates stuck in the down position, draw bridges stuck in the open position, etc. If one wishes to bother -- and I *do* call on things like this, we call the water department, the department of streets bureau of electricity, or the appropriate railroad, bridge-tender, etc. The rule here, although it is not always followed, is that 911 is to be used *only* in a dire emergency when immediate police/fireman intervention is required. For example, someone stripped your automobile last night and you found out about it this morning? That's no longer an emergency; it is over with. By the way, thus far in 1994 here, *27 children* have been killed in the crossfire of gang-related incidents in Chicago. Their involvement? They were on their way (at various times) to/from Ludwig von Beethoven School, an elementary school located in the middle of the Chicago Housing Atrocity (oops, I mean Authority) complex of a dozen highrise buildings on the south side. That's about two per week. Now the teachers and the police meet the children at the entrances of the buildings to walk with them acting like human sheilds the *one block* from their home to their school and back again in the afternoon. Yet even the little ones too young to go to school are not safe. A three year old boy was hit by bullets which came through the window of his family's home. An optical nerve was hit; he will now be blind for the rest of his life. He repeatedly asks his father -- in the words of a three year old -- "Why can't I see? I'm not a bad boy, I am a good boy, why can't I see anymore?". His father would like to know how to explain to his son why gang members with guns shooting from the windows of highrise apartment buildings are afforded protection from reprisal by police under some bogus civil liberties theories. How, he wants to know, could the Fourth Amendment have been twisted and perverted that badly, that ACLU attornies get court orders to prevent police from searching the apartments where the shots were fired? Mayor Daley said it best about Mr. Harvey Grossman, director of the ACLU here: (quote) "He is a jerk." You can take all the offense you want as an ACLU member at my 'mindless blather'; personally I find the ACLU to be a direct affront to what little decency and civility still remains in the USA. And yes, I know the constitution quite well thank you, and the ACLU does not have a monopoly on its interpretation and implementation even though they think they do. Since you like El Lay so much, I'm sure you would love Chicago. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #162 ****************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------