TELECOM Digest Fri, 6 May 94 15:12:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 207 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson GSM/DECT Radio Emissions (Stewart Fist) Help: Telecom/Radio Equipment Firm Addresses (Christoph Berger) Teleglobe Ambitions (Toronto Star via Dave Leibold) AT&T Collect Calling Comes to Canada (Dave Leibold) Wireless Local Loop in Mexico (Alex Cena) LAPD, Q.931 Software Vendors (Joel Estes) Need Date of First Undersea Cable (Bill Brasuell) Remote Point-of-Presence (Dave Bell) PEP Pager Protocol Software Information Wanted (Mathias Koerber) Link Two LANs Over Two Wire Leased Line? (Alfredo E. Cotroneo) I Have Some Basic Telecom Questions - Help! (domet@ucbeh.san.uc.edu) Northern Telecom Gets Colombia Contract (Dave Leibold) Series 5 Digital Loop Carrier System (DLC) (Chen Xie) ISDN via Microwave Multipoint (Omar Jennings) Re: Cellular Call Forwarding (Shawn Gordhamer) Re: Cellular Call Forwarding (Paul Barnett) Re: Cellular Phone Abuse (Aamer Soomro) Re: Cellular Phone Abuse (John R. Levine) Lastest Update on Info Superhighway Seminar (Roy Kerwood) 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: 05 May 94 08:32:57 EDT From: Stewart Fist <100033.2145@CompuServe.COM> Subject: GSM/DECT Radio Emissions The European Commission is about to issue a directive to limit the amount of EMI that digital phones can produce. The EC is said to be compiling results from a number of studies on the problem, in association with a number of universities. The World Health Organization is also involved in looking at the results and preparing recommendations. The most probable course of action is for the EC to pass the problem over to CENELEC to write up the actual standards. So far they have concentrated on creating 'immunity' standards (shielding for existing equipment) rather than emission standards for the producers of the radio pollution. This looks like a sea change in their thinking. Has anyone got more information on any of this? I'd be very interested to know who is involved, and what has been found, and what is being proposed. ------------------------------ From: tfa589@hp1.uni-rostock.de (Christoph Berger) Subject: Help: Telecom/Radio Equipment Firm Addresses Date: 5 May 1994 13:10:14 GMT Organization: University of Rostock (Germany) Hello, I am looking for adresses of firms in the area of telecommunication systems and radio equipment in the USA or Canada. I'm a German student in telecom and radiotechnic and I want to get a practical training in a North American company. It would be nice if someone can help me. e-mail to tfa589@hp1.uni-rostock.de christoph berger, friedrich-engels-platz 1, rostock, 18055, germany ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 05 May 94 21:18:04 -0500 Subject: Teleglobe Ambitions Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway {The Toronto Star} reported 4 May 94 of Teleglobe's Montreal annual meeting. Buoyed by a record net income last year, recovering from the previous year's loss, Chair/CEO Charles Sirois said "Teleglobe's goal is to triple its traffic volume by 1998, thereby advancing from seventh to third place among the world's intercontinental carriers." ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 05 May 94 21:34:19 -0500 Subject: AT&T Collect Calling Comes to Canada Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway AT&T just announced the availability of its 1 800 CALL-ATT service in Canada. This now allows Canadian callers to place collect calls to U.S. destinations via AT&T. An introductory offer gives a 20% discount to the called party's charges, at least for the next several weeks. MCI's 1 800 COLLECT is still unavailable in Canada. There is a recording which says the service is hoped to be available "later this summer" -- a recording which is apparently still in place from *last* summer. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 May 94 14:00:46 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Wireless Local Loop in Mexico "Northern Telecom Ltd. (NT) said it has signed a supply agreement with Grupo IUSACELL, the largest non-telco cellular operator in Mexico, to deploy the infrastructure for a nationwide basic telephony network. The company said the supply agreement is intended to be $330 million (U.S.) over three years and calls for Northern Telecom to supply innovative digital wireless technology based on a time division multiple access (TDMA) fixed wireless access network for Grupo IUSACELL ..." Does anyone have have additional details on this contract or service? o Deployment schedule o # of Subscribers that will be using the system o Where will most of the equipment be deployed o Where were the trials held and feedback from the trials o Cost of the service Thanks in Advance, Alex M. Cena, acena@lehman.com Telecom Equipment Analyst Lehman Brothers 200 Vesey Street, 14th Fl New York, NY 10285 (P) 212-526-2499 (F) 212-619-6826 ------------------------------ From: iex!estes@uunet.UU.NET (Joel Estes) Subject: LAPD, Q.931 Software Vendors Organization: iex Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 20:09:07 GMT I am looking for vendors of software for Q.931 and LAPD applications. Any suggestions? Please send e-mail to me directly. Regardz(tm), Joel Estes estes@iex.com ------------------------------ From: Brasuell_Bill@tandem.com (Bill Brasuell) Subject: Need Date of First Undersea Cable Organization: Tandem Computers Inc. Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 18:29:35 GMT Does anyone know the date of the first undersea cable between the USA and Europe/UK? In return I'll supply a bit of trivia, in 1876 it cost $7.50 per word to send a cablegram between New York and Buenos Aires. Bill Brasuell "This is cool." Abraham Lincoln Feb.1860 Tandem Computers Inc. Frequently quoted by today's kids. ------------------------------ From: dbell@cup.portal.com Subject: Remote Point-of-Presence Date: Thu, 5 May 94 17:54:58 PDT Is there a procedure whereby I can acquire a number, local to a remote exchange, from my home area? Specifically, I want to set up a line, either in my own place of business in California, or, alternatively, in the state of Pennsylvania, which can give me a local point of access in PA. I should be able to have local calls made from PA. to my p-o-p number forwarded to my California number, and likewise, be able to place calls out of the Pennsylvania line, so that they originate in PA. Naturally, I would incur any toll charges associated with the forwarding in either direction. Can this be done by subscribing to a PA telco, and activating (remotely!) call forwarding? Can this be done with a Pacific Telephone line, locally? Thanks for any information available! I'll watch here for replies, but would appreciate an email note as well ... Dave dbell@cup.portal.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The problem with remote call forwarding is that it only handles incoming calls (in PA) outbound to CA. You can arrange this with some telco in PA; they will give you a number there which terminates only in the desired central office and calls to that number will be forwarded at your expense by direct dialing to California. If you want to work it the other way around, where you in California can make outgoing *local* calls to people in Pennsylvania then you need a Foreign Exchange line. These have largely fallen into disuse in recent years because of the inexpensive nature of long distance calls and the use of WATS lines, remote call forwarding, etc, but they are available. Again you would need to contact the local telco in the place in Pennsylvania of your choice and specifically request Foreign Exchange (known as FX) service. They might tell you your local telco in California has to initiate the request. What will happen literally is that a pair of wires from the selected place in PA will be connected permanently to a phone at your premises in California. When you lift the receiver on that phone, the dial tone you hear will be coming to you direct from PA ... and the calls you make will be handled on a 'local' basis from the place where it is connected in PA. Whether PA or CA is the originator of the request, the two telcos will coordinate it and your local telco in CA will still be the company providing the wires to you from your local central office (where the PA telco will drop the wires coming to you). FX service is -- no kidding here! -- quite expensive. Your permanent, full time wired line from PA will cost you many hundreds of dollars per month fixed rate, and of course you will additionally pay whatever charges apply for a business in PA with a phone there as well. Most likely the billing will all come from your local telco for the whole thing with your local telco doing inter- company accounting/billing with the PA telco, AT&T and whoever else in the middle physically owns the wires and interim switches, etc. The thing with FX is, you've got to be able to justify the cost with *lots* of traffic ... like keeping that line loaded several hours per day minimum. If you can keep the line loaded with traffic several hours per day it will break even; but less than that, you'll find that DDD over the public network costs a lot less. People in PA who dial your 'local' number will in fact unwittingly ring your phone in CA for the price of a local (to them) call; ditto you in reverse. You cannot count evening/overnight/weekend hours in the calculations regards traffic. Nothing beats weekend rates. That several hours of traffic daily has to come from mid-day business hours. Another alternative would be to find an answering service in PA which would hang a call diverter on the wall for you and let you dial into it via DDD only to outdial through the diverter on a local basis. Of course phreaking is rampant; anyone else who finds the diverter can do the same thing, god forbid *their* calls were only local ... ... But now you would be paying (1) a long distance call, (2) a local call and/or local service fees to PA telco, (3) some fee to the answering service each month and (4) your 'dues' to the United Hackerphreaks of America just to get your physical presence there. My thinking is you would be better off with remote call forwarding inbound from PA with a listing in the local PA phone directory while making your outgoing calls DDD from California and glossing over the fact that you are actually in California unless the called party specifically asks your location. Remote call forwarding will cost you $20-30 per path/month out of Pennsylvania plus the per minute DDD rate in effect at the time the call is received. This is much less expensive than FX unless you are running a phone intensive operation like customer service or a credit/collection center or telemarketing, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mathias@solomon.technet.sg (Mathias Koerber) Subject: PEP Pager Protocol Software Information Wanted Date: 6 May 1994 09:22:40 GMT Organization: TECHNET, Singapore Reply-To: Mathias.Koerber@swi.com.sg Where can I get info/src about the pep protocol for pagers? I couldn't find a FAQ. Mathias Koerber | Tel: +65 / 778 00 66 x 29 SW International Systems Pte Ltd | Fax: +65 / 777 94 01 14 Science Park Drive #04-01 The Maxwell | e-mail: Mathias.Koerber@swi.com.sg Singapore 0511 | mathias@solomon.technet.sg ------------------------------ From: alfredo@quickt2.it12.bull.it (Alfredo E. Cotroneo) Subject: Link Two LANs Over Two Wire Leased Line? Date: Fri, 6 May 94 15:50:28 MET DST I am looking for a solution to link two Windows for Workgroup LANS which are 800 metres distant from each other over a (possibly) two wire leased line. The line is just a wire installed by the telephone company and has electrical continuity, if that matters. An alternative would be to have just file transfer between two PCs, if network connection is impractical, too expensive or would strictly require four wires. Current modem technology at 28kbits (+ with compression) or ISDN at 64/128kbit would be too slow since the data to transfer may be in the range of one or two Gbytes per day. (BTW: Did anybody hear of ISDN over a leased line, is that possible?) An alternative to the network connection (bridge?) would be to have just file transfer between two PCs, if that is possible somehow at speeds >= 1Mbit over two wires at 800 metres? Any pointer to specific products (HW and SW), phones, faxes, of suppliers, etc. will be gladly appreciated. Please answer directly, since I am not getting newsfeeds on a regular basis, and if there is interest I will summarize. Thank you, Alfredo E. Cotroneo, Milano, Italy E-mail : 100020.1013@compuserve.com fax: +39-2-706 38 151, ph: +39-2-266 6971 ------------------------------ From: domet@ucbeh.san.uc.edu Subject: I Have Some Basic Telecom Questions: HELP! Date: 6 May 94 14:33:06 EST Organization: University of Cincinnati I recently posted a message requesting help with Telecom ACRONYMS. The response to my message was huge and I thank everyone who responded with suggestions. I am still researching the area of Telecom and have learned a lot in the past few weeks. I obtained Newton's Telecom Dictionary which is a BIG help. I still am having trouble with a few topics. I am aware of what many are but do not know enough about Telecomm to understand many of the technical descriptions. 1.) Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) concept and the basic (2B+D) service. 2.) Broadband ISDN (BISDN) concept. 3.) National ISDN-1. I have found a lot on ISDN but not much that talks about National ISDN-1. At least not in a way I can understand. 4.) Concept of circuit switching. Major steps involved in call setup and take down. 5.) How do you determine/choose a packet size? 6.) Instead of using a bridge to connect two identical networks, why don't system developers just create one larger network? I realize people don't always have the time to sit and answer questions so if you could expand on even ONE of these topics, I would really appr@cup.portal.com)RN~ eciate it. ANY ANSWERS WOULD BE APPRECIATED. In return, I am going to create a FAQ of all basic questions that I answer or get answers to. It will hopefully lessen the amount of questions asked. Luke [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You may want to check out the FAQ for this group. The telecom Frequently Asked Questions file is sent out automatically to each new subscriber to the mailing list and is also posted on comp.dcom.telecom from time to time. In addition you can get a copy from the Telecom Archives at lcs.mit.edu by anonymous ftp or email server. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 05 May 94 22:11:36 -0500 Subject: Northern Telecom gets Colombia contract Organization: FidoNet Nameserver/Gateway [from Bell News, 2 May 1994] Nortel to install digital network in Colombia. Northern Telecom, our sister company in the BCE family, has landed its largest contract in Latin America with the signing of a $350 million deal to install a digital phone network in Colombia. The contract includes 205,000 digital phone lines in ten regions of Colombia as well as transmission equipment and microwave systems. The agreement follows one signed only weeks earlier by Bell Canada International to provide cellular phone service to the eastern region of Colombia, including the capital, Bogota. ------------------------------ From: chenxie@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Chen Xie) Subject: Series 5 Digital Loop Carrier System (DLC) Date: 6 May 1994 12:25:40 -0500 Organization: The University of Texas - Austin Hi Folks: I am looking to purchase large quantity of Series 5 DLC systems. Could somebody tell me who are the players out there besides AT&T? Small manufacturers are acceptable as long as their products are compliant to the standards. Any other information will also be appreciated. Chen Xie ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 13:32:42 EDT From: Omar Jennings Subject: ISDN via Microwave Multipoint We are interested in any work being done in the area of the (B-ISDN) user connection via wireless in the microwave bands above 2 gHz. Any leads would be appreciated. ------------------------------ From: shawnlg@netcom.com (Shawn Gordhamer) Subject: Re: Cellular Call Forwarding Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 09:09:32 GMT amg@panix.com (Alan M. Gallatin) writes: > What company is it that doesn't charge anything on the forwarded call? Cellular One in Rochester, MN does not charge anything for forwarding calls. However, I haven't seen any way to use call forwarding to make free long distance calls, and I've tried :). Our coverage spans two area codes, so if someone in the 612 area code calls me on my cell phone, there is no LD charge (I'm in 507). However, if I call him from my cell phone or via call forwarding, there is a LD charge. Shawn Gordhamer shawnlg@netcom.com Rochester, Minnesota USA ------------------------------ From: barnett@convex.com (Paul Barnett) Subject: Re: Cellular Call Forwarding Date: 5 May 94 14:08:11 GMT Organization: CONVEX News Network, Engineering (cnn.eng), Richardson, Tx USA In amg@panix.com (Alan M. Gallatin) writes: > What company is it that doesn't charge anything on the forwarded call? Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems. Except, in the Dallas Ft. Worth area, when the number that the call is being forwarded to is a different area code that is normally NOT long-distance, the prevailing airtime rate is charged. This is a little hard to explain. In D/FW, the mobile phone numbers are 'metro' numbers, which can be called from anywhere in Dallas, Ft. Worth, and suburbs (most of the 214 and 817 area codes), without a long-distance toll charge. Conversely, through some magic I only vaguely understand, SBMS will place cellular phone calls to land phones anywhere in the the D/FW 'home' market (it is quite large) without charging a long-distance toll ... airtime only. I believe Cellular One (the A-side provider in D/FW) has a similar policy. And, unless they have changed it in the past year, US West Cellular does not charge air-time or any other fees on locally forwarded calls in the Mpls-St. Paul service area. Paul Barnett Convex Computer Corp. MPP OS Development Richardson, TX ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 5 May 94 13:21:16 EDT From: asoomro@bass.gmu.edu (Aamer Soomro) Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Abuse In article jharan@cwa.com writes: > ... but why don't the cellular providers use a more robust > authentication service. Your cellular phone would contain an > encription key that would also be known to the cellular provider. When > your phone went off hook, it would send its telephone number. The > provider would look up your number to get your key and send you some > random sequence of digits which would vary from call to call. Your > phone would take the sequence of digits, use its key to encode them > and return them to the provider. Since the provider has your key, it > can perform the same encription. If the encoded data that was returned > doesn't match what the provider's copy of the key encripts, then its > because the calling phone doesn't have the right key and the call is > dropped. The key is never transmitted so the crook would have to > steal the physical phone to steal the service. To me this seems hitting pretty close to the Clipper Chip controversy. All the service providers and cell phone manufactures would have to conform to a standard encryption, so that the cell phones could be used with any carrier service. The encryption keys analogous to the phone numbers would be another database to be maintained by the service providers. Would it be feasable to complicate the registeration process by introducing two encryption steps and a comparisson step along with two steps for digit transmission? Aamer Soomro George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia. USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 May 94 12:36 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Cellular Phone Abuse Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > Does anybody have any insights as to why it doesn't work this way > [with per-phone challenge-response passwords] today? The AMPS system in use in the U.S. was designed over a decade ago, and has become much more popular than even the most optimistic forecasts predicted. There's a balance between cost and function, and ten years ago the cost of adding the security features would have been quite high, and the advantage, given the relatively modest popularity they expected, low. On the other hand, if the next round of cell phones (CDMA or TDMA) don't include effective security features, that's just stupid. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: Roy_Kerwood@mindlink.bc.ca (Roy Kerwood) Subject: Lastest Update on Info Superhighway Seminar Date: Thu, 05 May 94 20:18:15 -0700 (PDT) Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a revised copy of the notice posted here earlier this week which did not have all the details. PAT] All seats are reserved and must be purchased in advance. THE 1st TRAVELLERS GUIDE TO THE INFO SUPERHIGHWAY At Hotel Vancouver June 24, 1994 Vancouver, BC Canada All the information you need to know about the INFO SUPERHIGHWAY!! Keynote Addresses Respected professionals involved with the Info Superhighway will provide detailed info on the superhighway and a personalized ROAD MAP for you so you or your company can get onto the SUPERHIGHWAY and get there at the highest speed. Hands on displays of the latest Communications Software and hardware. Video Tele-Conference. On line Databases . WORLDWIDE Internet Connections. World Wide Information access. You will be part of the highest level of the Information SUPERHIGHWAY and have access to the leading edge of the latest Communications Technologies. Lectures on The Information Superhighway. Display by hardware, Software, Communications, Information Suppliers. Timing: 8:00 - Registration of attendees; explore exhibits 8:30 - Introduction to show by Roy Kerwood 8:45 - Honorable Robin Blencoe Minister of Government services and Minister responsible for Sport and The Commonwealth Games been invited to give a keynote address. 9:10 - Mr AF Khan of AF Khan & Assosciates will speak on Voice call processing remote data processing Interfacing to Host Database and I.V.R. Tooolkit as well as Interactive Fax/Records Management. 10:00 - BC Systems Corporation will participate by discussing what government is doing today to support the public and private sectors access to the information highway and could also discuss some future plans which are on the drawing board. 10:20 - Mr. Mike Patterson, Internet expert informs audience of latest developments in the Superhighway from his perspective and future visions in panel format. 11:00 - Mr. Hung Vu of Fonorola will speak on recent developments in data-communications from a providers point of view and will discuss future directions for the information networks. 11:30 - Mr. Mark Watson Of Westel Tele-Communications will speak on the mst current advances in their compnies services. 12:00 - Break for lunch and to examine the exhibits ( lunch will be provided.) 1:00 - Hon. John Manly has been invited to Video Tele-conference link to Ottawa. 1:20 - Det Schmidt of ORB Satellite Communications will provide us with an insight into the outer reaches of the communications world and let us know how close (or Far) we are from truly global instant satellite communications from our own computers or homes. 2:10 - Richard Pitt of Wimsey, a local Internet access, explains "point and click" access to the information super highway using Mosaic and give live demonstration of the World Wide Web, Archie and other exciting new developments in the state of the art. 3:00 - Bruce Woodward of The Cyberstore BBS will do a live demonstration of a LOCAL BBS. 3:30 - A speaker from BCNet the Internet Provider for BC will discuss the present state of BCNET as well as their plans for the future. 4:00 - Question and answer session in panel format with audience participation. 5:00 - Wrap up by Roy Kerwood 5:10 - 8:00 Move to the Vancouver Island room for refreshments and hands on demonstrations by exhibitors and further discussion groups. 8:00 - Show closes Thank you for you interest in the seminar. PLEASE COPY THIS AND PASS IT ALONG TO ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED OR POST IT ON YOUR BULLETIN BOARD. Time is of the essence! Roy Kerwood & Associates 907-1011 Beach Ave. Vancouver BC V6E 1T8 ph-fax (604) 687-3422 Tickets Including Lunch $40.00. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #207 ******************************