TELECOM Digest Sat, 14 May 94 00:25:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 225 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Forum in NY (Jorge T. Negron) Need Weather-Resistant Phone (Kyle Rhorer) Footnote to A History of Underseas Cables (James H. Haynes) Loop Start to Ground Start Converter (Leroy Casterline) Alt.sex.beastiality.in.space.and.oklahoma (Dave Wade ) Annoying Delays: LD Customer Service (Sudeepto Roy) Re: San Carlos Joins Internet (Javier Henderson) Re: San Carlos Joins Internet (Dennis Smiley) Dealing with Obscene Callers in the 90's (Paul A. Lee) Re: Local Competition -- Outside Plant vs Dialtone (Alan Leon Varney) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: jnegron@photon.poly.edu (Jorge T. Negron) Subject: Telecom Forum in NY Organization: CATT Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 22:56:43 GMT Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications (CATT) Presents: FORUMS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS PRACTICE Supported in Part by the New York State Science and Technology Foundation Polytechnic University, Five Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 718-260-3050 NETWORK DESIGN AND ANALYSIS TOOLS The design of computer networks has always been a difficult task and it continues to become more challenging. With new network architectures and carrier offerings emerging almost daily, and with heterogeneous applications sharing capacity, building a network which works at all, not to mention trying to optimize cost or performance, is a formidable job. Network planners and managers have therefore become increasingly reliant upon automated tools to help with these tasks. These tools, which are interactive and graphically based, allow the user to quickly analyze design alternatives, both topological and architectural and to make key decisions about design and configuration tradeoffs. This talk will focus on the state of the art in network design and analysis tools, their major functions, how such tools are architected, how the user interacts with them, some of the algorithms used in these tools, and on current challenges in extending such tools to deal with increasingly large and diverse networks. A live demonstration will be given of INTREPID, a tool developed at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and currently in use inside IBM. SPEAKER: Aaron Kershenbaum is a member of the Network Design Tools Group at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne. His current research is centered on algorithms and tools for the design and analysis of high speed and multiprotocol networks. From 1978 until 1989, he was part of the Polytechnic University faculty where he served as a Professor of Computer Science as well as heading the Network Design Laboratory at Poly's CATT. From 1968 to 1979, he was part of the group at Network Analysis Corporation which did pioneering work in network design, including the design of the original ARPANET. Dr. Kershenbaum is the author of the book, "Telecommunications Network Design Algorithms" and co-authored the book "Network Management and Control". He is also the author of over 50 technical articles and has supervised over 20 Ph.D. dissertations in the field of network design. He is a fellow of the IEEE. TIME & PLACE: Tuesday, June 21, 1994 9:00AM - 10:30AM Polytechnic University Auditorium 5 Metrotech Center Brooklyn NY Trains: A, F, D, M, R, 4, and 5 are within 1 block of the Metrotech Complex ADMISSION: Corporate members of CATT's Associates Program and Polytechnic students are invited free of charge. The fee for others is $5.00 Please be sure to call 718-260-3050 or FAX 718-260-3074 for a reservation. Jorge T. Negron (jnegron@photon.poly.edu) Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications 5 Metrotech Center Brooklyn, NY 11201 ------------------------------ From: rhorer@medics.jsc.nasa.gov (Kyle Rhorer) Subject: Need Weather-Resistant Phone Date: 13 May 1994 22:55:51 GMT Organization: KRUG Life Sciences, Inc. I am looking for a manufacturer/distributor of a weather-resistant phone for use as a house phone on the outside of a building. It is in an enclosure, but the normal consumer phones we have been using don't stand up to the humidity of our South Texas climate :-) Please e-mail and I will summarize if there is any interest. Thanks, Kyle ------------------------------ From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (James H. Haynes) Subject: Footnote to A History of Underseas Cables Date: 14 May 1994 00:08:42 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz Another interesting facet of history, also from George Oslin's book, is the relation between transatlantic cables and the U.S. purchase of Alaska. After the 1858 ocean cable failed and the transcontinental telegraph line was completed Hiram Sibley, president of Western Union, decided that a route up the west coast of America, across the Bering straits, and across Russia to Europe offered the most likely prospect of success. Work started on this project, which was abandoned when the 1866 ocean cable proved successful. In the course of the work Sibley visited Russia to see about buying a right-of-way along the coast of Alaska, then Russian territory. A Russian noble told Sibley that for the kind of money he was offering Russia would just about be willing to sell the whole territory. Western Union decided it didn't want to be in the real estate business; so Sibley suggested to Secretary Seward that the U. S. government should take advantage of the Russian offer to sell. Other figures mentioned in connection with this event are Leo Tolstoy, who was made a count in recognition of his work promoting telegraphy in Russia, and a U.S. diplomat named George Kennan. Oslin doesn't say so, but I would presume the latter is an ancestor of the living diplomat with the same name. Alaskan natives built suspension bridges using some of the steel wire left behind when the telegraph company abandoned the project. haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 16:30:29 -0600 From: Leroy Casterline Subject: Loop Start to Ground Start Converter Dear telecom wizards, My company has a box that connects between a PBX and the CO on PBX analog loop start trunk ports, as follows: ----- ----- ----- | P | loop start | B | loop start | C | | B | <--------------> | o | <--------------> | O | | X | | x | | | ----- ----- ----- We now have a need to connect in a similar fashion in a gound start environment, as follows: ----- ----- ----- | P | ground start | B | ground start | C | | B | <--------------> | o | <--------------> | O | | X | | x | | | ----- ----- ----- Does anyone know of an existing device which could be connected between our box and the PBX, and between our box and the CO, so that we can work in the above environment without re-engineering our analog interface or changing our software? Thanks, Leroy Casterline Cahill Casterline Limited 303/484-2212 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 May 94 14:11:15 MDT From: djw@aerie (Dave Wade ) Subject: Alt.sex.beastiality.in.space.and.oklahoma > I, too, am interested in the possibilities of satellite hookup to the > net. Can it be done? (doh -- anything *can* be done) Is it done? How > expensive is it? Who do I talk to? & From djd@netsys.com Thu Jun 3 13:55:52 1993 & From: Duane Dubay & Subject: Your Order & To: djw@lanl.GOV & Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 12:48:12 -0700 (PDT) & David, & Thanks for your Usenet order. Your order # is ...have any questions & about the status of your order. & The complete charges are $1828.00. $1800 for the system and & $28.00 for shipping and handling. Per your rquest, it will be & shipped COD. I can let you know when it ships so you can be & prepared for delivery. & If you have any questions, let me know. & Thanks! & Duane J. Dubay & PageSat Inc. "Where cyberspace and outerspace are one" & 992 San Antonio Rd. &Palo Alto, CA. 94303 (415) 424-0384 or Email djd@pagesat.com And one final additional comment, there is a usenet newsgroup about pagesat also ... just in case you need more information from another satisfied customer ... ------------------------------ From: sroy@qualcomm.com (Sudeepto Roy) Subject: Annoying Delays: LD Customer Service Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 13:16:38 -0800 Organization: Qualcomm Incorporated Hello Fellow Netters! Wonder if this is the right newsgroup to voice my indignace about customer service from Long Distance companies. In any case, I hope that AT&T, Sprint and MCI are reading this! These days, whenever you call the 800 customer service number of one of the big three, it seems that you're made to wait for five to fifteen minutes on an average before a voice that belongs to a real person responds back. Over the past few months, my friends and I have been noticing these annoying delays in service. You dial a number and you're forced to wait and listen to music that you don't care about or calling plans and advertisement that you care lesser. This is a phenomenon that occurs round the clock -- I've called at traditionally busy hours and traditionally wee hours (11p.m.- 7 a.m. for instance). Mind you, I have no complaint about service. Once an operator gets my call, I can usually get my requests serviced easily. In most cases, whenever I metion that I had to wait for eight minutes the operator is either bewildered or has the ready answer "Our networks are quite busy, at this time of the day" -- at 1 a.m.? Sudeepto Roy Qualcomm Incorporated, San Diego, CA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way they should respond to your query is 'disproportionatly busy to the amount of staff on hand ...'. It is not so much they are loaded with calls as it is they probably have only two or three people serving the entire United States at that time of night. As a test try calling three or four times at night versus three or four times during the middle of the day in the middle of the week. You'll find almost invariably you wait longer at night, despite the smaller amount of calls since the limited number of people there are still taking as many calls as during the day, and in all probability they may be on manual filing/order taking if the computer is down for updating and/or maintainence. If so, that would slow things down even more. I've noticed the same thing when calling Illinois Bell at odd hours of the morning. They have operated customer service 24 hours per day for about a year now but time and again, my call to them at 4 AM returns a recording saying to please hold for a representative, and that 'the approximate waiting time will be greater than ten minutes'. Less than ten minutes, they state the approximate number of minutes on their recording, more than ten is merely given as 'greater than ten'. When I do get through to someone, it is often times obvious that the 'system is down' since the rep does not have copies of any records and is taking notes by hand. For questions such as 'what is my balance due?' the answer will be he does not have that information available at the present time and will call me back later if I wish. I call an 800 number, so they are paying for the time on hold; I guess they figure it is still cheaper than having more help on duty. What is really annoying though is when they leave their desk (at any time of day or night) and *forget to unplug their headset* from their work station. The Automatic Call Distributor which tosses incoming calls out to the reps uses a plugged in headset as its basis for thinking a position is occupied and a person there is willing to take calls. Normally the rep sits there and a 'click' in their headset followed by hearing a person breathing on the other end tells them a call has been given to them. If no headset is plugged in, the ACD bypasses that position and moves to another idle one. So if you ever call, wait on hold awhile and get 'answered', only to sit there and hear talking in the background but no one actually talking to you then you'll know what happened -- a headset is laying on the desk plugged in while its owner has gone out to the bathroom or for coffee or whatever. Given the volume of traffic they get, as soon as you abandon the call to dial in again, there'll be an immediate seizure and some other poor devil is now on that line waiting for a rep who never will speak to him! On a busy day/night you see, your hangup click in the rep's ear is followed instantly (a half second later?) by a click and breathing from the caller who follows you. Wires on the headset jack make a loop when the headset is plugged in telling the ACD to toss calls that way, thus the need to physically unplug it when leaving. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: San Carlos Joins Internet From: henderson@mln.com Date: 13 May 94 14:51:09 PST Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for the clarification and > correction. I guess I've no idea why they are in .com then. PAT] Look at their address ... scarlos@crl.com. CRL is just another Internet services provider, looks like someone at City hall just got an account there. Just a thought. Javier Henderson (JH21) henderson@mln.com ------------------------------ From: smiley@crl.com (Dennis Smiley) Subject: Re: San Carlos Joins Internet Date: 13 May 1994 16:15:58 -0700 Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access (415) 705-6060 [login: guest] > Why are they in the Commercial domain, and not the Government domain? scarlos probably "rents" space from crl, like I do?? Dennis Smiley smiley@crl.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think you two are probably correct. Until now, we were assuming that San Carlos had its own Internet drop there ... obviously they do not if you examine the address. PAT]