TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 May 94 12:18:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 252 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Eleven Montrealers Arrested in Telephone Fraud (Peter M. Weiss) Book Review: "Riding the Internet Highway" by Fisher (Rob Slade) Message Waiting Problem on OPX in CA (Barton F. Bruce) Nice Job, if You Can Get it! (Gerry Brown) Tellabs Information Request (Leroy Casterline) Flames For ISD? (Joe Jarrett) Looking for FEC Decoder (Harry Smith) What's a 1A3B? (Stan Schwartz) SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement (Manette B. Lazear) Paper on International Callbacks (Douglas Mckeen) 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: Thu, 26 May 1994 05:36:37 EDT From: "Peter M. Weiss" Subject: Eleven Montrealers Arrested in Telephone Fraud Organization: Penn State University Original received From: Melvin Klassen A Canadian Press story: MONTREAL - Eleven people have been arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the phone systems of British Columbia, Alberta, and Edmonton of about $700,000. RCMP said the operation was run out of Montreal -- the eleven arrested are all Montrealers -- and it offered illegal cut-rate long-distance telephone service to overseas clients. Once a client got interested, an agent would contact a cohort in Edmonton, who could reroute the call anywhere in the world. The client had no indication that it wa an illegal operation. RCMP Corporal Dominique Delage said the mechanism used for conference- calls make long-distance fraud easy for people who charge the calls to companies that exist only on paper. Four men were arrested April 19 in Edmonton, and charged with theft, fraud, and conspiracy. The seven people arrested Thursday in Montreal were released, but are to be charged soon. ----------------- Mel's subtitle: "RCMP reach out and touch someone" :-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: RCMP = Royal Canadian Mounted Police, essentially the Canadian federal police force and equivilent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the USA. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 14:42:28 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Riding the Internet Highway" by Fisher BKRIDINT.RVW 940204 New Riders Publishing 201 W. 103rd Street Indianapolis, IN 46290 phyllis@prenhall.com 70621.2737@CompuServe.COM Alan Apt Beth Mullen-Hespe beth_hespe@prenhall.com "Riding the Internet Highway", Fisher, 1993, 1-56205-192-X, U$16.95/C$21.95 slf@netcom.com Fisher shows admirable restraint in limiting the scope of this book. Where others try to produce "complete" documentation for the "whole" Internet, Fisher flatly states (correctly) that this is impossible. Where others try to take you "from the modem up," Fisher suggests you get some basic experience with local bulletin boards. The intent is to give desktop (PC and Mac) users some basic grounding in Internet functions and tools. As such, the book is much less imposing than most of the others of this ilk. (Cheaper, too.) The emphasis on the micro computer is followed through in the material covered. Like a number of other guides, some very basic UNIX background is given. It is clear, though, that the expectation is that the UNIX box is not on your desk, but a remote system on which you have an account. When discussing ftp, readers are reminded that they still need to download from the local host to their own desktop. Although I appreciate the limitation of the information contained herein, at times things are kept just slightly too terse. The very important tip about not sending subscription and signoff requests to the mailing list, itself, is here but the material isn't completely explicit about what *is* the correct procedure. Readers are told that ftp.misc.sri.com has a list of mailing lists; they aren't told the file name or directory. (Ironically, thirty-three pages later an ftp screen is used from that very directory -- although it doesn't list the interest-groups file.) One other regrettable shortcoming is the limited discussion of mail servers. Although Fisher obviously feels local service providers are the answer, for many users online commercial service vendors may be the only realistic answer, and these are often limited to email access. Some topics may appear fragmented, since the book is organized by application rather than function. Finger and whois are discussed under "Finding Information" rather than under email. Fisher's discussion of the distinctives of Usenet is very good -- but news *could* be discussed alongside mailing lists. For the majority of new users, however, this is a good, basic introduction. What shortcomings there are in specific information can be quickly filled in once a user has gotten onto the net. The very personal style here probably more than makes up for any other lacks -- the Internet is primarily other people, not technologies. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKRIDINT.RVW 940204. Distribution 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 ------------------------------ From: Barton.Bruce@camb.com Subject: Message Waiting Problem on OPX in CA Organization: Digital Equipment Computer Users Society Date: 25 May 94 23:30:09 -0400 A site in CA has a problem getting the message waiting lamp to light at an off premise location three miles away. I am in Mass and so can only guess what is happening and have suggested some tests that may help pinpoint what is happening, but any help is most welcome. The PBX is a big Fugitsu with an OPX station card using 48VDC for talk battery, so loop supervision over that range should be no problem. The message waiting lamp signal is on the station line where it leaves the PBX site, but does not light the lamp at the remote station. The phone at the remote site does have the lamp flash during ringing, so it seems to be a working traditional neon lamp across T and R. I am assuming that PACBEL is running the line through something akin to a traditional dial-long-line (DLL) unit that lets them reinsert talk battery and is really necessary when working any distance from a PBX with 24VDC station battery. PACBEL probably just does this on all OPX lines to 'protect' themselves. This is all in the same town (Sebastopol). I am assuming that at that distance they are NOT doing a full four wire transmission system with FXO and FXS ends which could extend the station to any place even thousands of miles away. Any such equipment will immediately eliminate the message waiting signal. I am also assuming that breaking the loop at the PBX or reversing T and R there will propably not result in any differance in the on hook open circuit voltage seen at the station end -- further proving there is a DLL unit or equiv in between. Is there an alternate service that can be ordered that is just copper wires that PACBELL officially tolerates OPX stations on? USOC code or other incantation for it? Does one have to resort to ordering LADD type copper lines for 'short-haul' line driver modems and then using them otherwise? Are such copper only circuits readily available in CA? Is a four wire version only a tad more or is it exactly twice. i.e. could a second such circuit be ordered for peanuts more since only a single pair is really needed. Does PACBELL put those "RUDE" protectors/filters on LADD circuits that preclude DDS (or even faster:-) ) 'abuse' and that also preclude normal station battery let alone superimposed ringing and message waiting battery? There are plenty of 'cute' ways to repeat the message waiting signal given enough $s and possibly another circuit in parallel, but what is needed here is the right magic incantation to get an appropriate circuit from them that lets the message waiting light on the OPX line work the way it is supposed to. Does PACBELL have a consultant liason / out of state vendor type contact group with a competant staff? EMAIL if posting it is a bad idea. TIA, Barton ------------------------------ Date: 26 May 94 03:17 GMT From: BROWN.GERRY@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Gerry Brown Assoc, Gerry Brown,PAS) Subject: Nice Job, if You Can Get it! This could be retitiled, How can I ever thank them.. This afternoon, my home telephone went south. Anyone who called in got one ring followed by a fast busy. I called the local (Pac Bell) operator who forwarded me to PacBell service after confirming my problem. Service reminded me that they would have to charge me if it was internal wiring. I agreed to wait to report the problem until AFTER I had tested their side of the line. PacBell supplies each house with an external box that has a modular jack. To test it all one has to do is plug a phone into the external jack. If it works, the problem is internal -- my fault. If it doesn't, the problem is outside PacBell's fault. While reporting the problem, the service tech told me that effective June 1, 1994, PacBell will be charging for a service call WHETHER THE PROBLEM IS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. The only way around the charge is to subscribe to their Wire Service Plan. Not a bad scam, heh! I pay for service no matter who is at fault. The PacBell repair service claimed that the California PUC forced them to implement this plan. Boy am I glad that the telephone industry has been deregulated. Imagine what we would have to pay if that hadn't happened. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I would double check the source on this. Do you mean to tell me that if there is a problem in the CO that *you* are going to have to pay for the repair? If the problem is on the pole in the alley behind your house *you* will have to pay? Gimme a break. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 21:59:53 -0600 From: Leroy Casterline Subject: Tellabs Information Request Salutations, telecom netlanders! Not long ago, I requested information from this group on loop-start <-> ground-start converters. My thanks to all who responded. Now I come to you once again requesting your assistance. Tellabs produces converters which appear to satisfy our need. While I have heard of Tellabs, I have no direct experience with them or their products, and therefore solicit your input on the company and its converters. The converters we are considering are: Tellabs Model 6007 - 2 line, PBX-side converter Tellabs Modem 9006 - 4 line, CO-side converter Thank you one and all! Leroy ------------------------------ From: joejarre@netcom.com (Joe Jarrett) Subject: Flames For ISD? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Wed, 25 May 1994 21:49:57 GMT I'm the Field Applications engineer for Information Storage Devices, commonly known as "ISD". ISD makes a series of chips that store audio (speech, sounds, etc). I've been told that we have taken some bad press in one of the "telecom" newsgroups. Did that happen here? If so, if anyone has any copies of the threads that ran then, I'd appreciate them being sent to me. Otherwise, I would be willing to discuss the subject either via Email or here in the TELECOM Digest. Thanks for your time. Joe Jarrett, K5FOG joejarre@netcom.com Information Storage Devices FAE Austin, Texas ------------------------------ From: hsmith@lmsc.lockheed.com (Harry Smith) Subject: Looking For FEC Decoder Organization: Lockheed Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 00:54:45 GMT I have just picked up Sklar's book on digital communications. (It is a great book.) In the back it has code for doing Viterbi decoding on a PC. Does anyone know of an FTP site where I can find it in softcopy. (I have typing several pages of some elses code.) While I am at it, is this the correct location find information about the different error correcting codes and what people are doing? ( If not, can you point me to the right place.) Harry Smith hsmith@lmsc.lockheed.com ------------------------------ From: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) Subject: What's a 1A3B? Date: 26 May 1994 00:32:28 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Here in downstate NYNEXland if an exchange has not been "taken over" by a pager or cellular company, you can dial the NNX and 9901 to find out what kind of switch is in that C/O. For example, dialing (516)694-9901 will tell you that you have reached the Farmingdale 5ESS test number, serving the following prefixes ... (you get the idea). When dialing (516) 352-9901, however, I am told that I have reached the Floral Park 1A3B, the only one of it's kind in Nassau County. Now I have heard of 5ESS's and DMS-100's, but what is a 1A3B, and why is it such a distinction to have one? Thanks! Stan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 26 May 1994 12:30:39 +0100 From: manette@mitre.org (Manette B. Lazear) Subject: SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement SIGNIDR V Preliminary Meeting Announcement Special Interest Group on Networked Information, Discovery, and Retrieval (Previously SIGWAIS, Special Interest Group on Wide Area Information Server) The MITRE Corporation will sponsor the next meeting of the Special Interest Group on Networked Information, Discovery, and Retrieval. General topics of interest for this group are WAIS, gopher, World Wide Web, and other information retrieval and discovery technologies. We are planning for an interesting and exciting meeting. We look forward to seeing you there. This meeting will focus in on three areas: 1. security including firewall issues, 2. electronic publishing and copyright issues, and 3. knowbots and other information discovery technologies. IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN MAKING A PRESENTATION IN ANY OF THESE AREAS, PLEASE INDICATE THIS ON THE REGISTRATION FORM BELOW AND SEND IT TO US AT "signidr@mitre.org". Date: Thursday, August 4, 1994 Time: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Place: The MITRE Corporation 7525 Colshire Drive McLean, VA 22102 Registration: PLEASE REGISTER EARLY TO ASSURE YOUR ATTENDANCE. Space is limited to 300 attendees. Complete registration form below and return by e-mail or fax: e-mail: signidr@mitre.org fax: 703/883-1397 (c/o Lorrayne Schaefer) Fee: None Demos Welcome: If you have a demo you would like to share with your colleagues in our demo area, there is space to indicate this on the registration form; please let us know. Demo selection will be coordinated based on space availability and focus of presentation. Vendors Welcome: We would like to include vendor information and demos at this meeting. If you are a vendor and would like to participate please indicate this in the space provided on the registration form. Selection will be coordinated based on space availability and focus of presentation. Access: Free, on-site, parking at MITRE Corporation. Driving directions to MITRE will appear in a later announcement. Nearest Metro is West Falls Church (orange line) with approximately an $8 taxi ride (~7 minute) from Metro to MITRE. Bus #3B marked "Tyson's Corner" also runs from West Falls Church Metro to the vicinity of MITRE. The fare is $1 and takes about 15 min. plus a short walk from the bus stop. Airport: MITRE is approximately equi-distant from Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles Airport. Travel time from the airports to MITRE is about 25 minutes and taxi cost is approximately $30.00. Nearby Hotels: Best Western Tyson's Westpark 2 miles to MITRE 8401 Westpark Drive McLean, VA 22102 703/734-2800 McLean Hilton at Tyson's Corner 1.5 miles to MITRE 7920 Jones Branch Drive McLean, VA 22102 703/847-5000 Ritz-Carlton, Tyson's Corner .5 miles to MITRE 1700 Tyson's Blvd McLean, VA 22102 703/506-4300 Tyson's Corner Ramada 1 mile to MITRE 7801 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22043 703/893-1340 Tyson's Corner Marriott 1 mile to MITRE 8028 Leesburg Pike Vienna, VA 22182 800/228-9290 -------------Registration Form------------ SIGNIDR V Registration Thursday, August 4, 1994 MITRE CORPORATION McLean, VA Name:___________________________________________________________________ Title:____________________________________________________________________ Affiliation:_____________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ E-mail:___________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________FAX:______________________________ Which previous SIGNIDR/SIGWAIS have you attended? (Check all that apply.) SIGWAIS I (USGS, Reston, VA) _________ SIGWAIS II (Library of Congress, Wash., DC) _________ SIGNIDR III (Nat. Library of Med., Bethesda, MD) _________ SIGNIDR IV (Dept. of Commerce, Wash., DC) _________ Participant Information: If you wish to participate through a presentation, demonstration, or vendor display please complete the appropriate information area(s) below. For demos you must supply all equipment you will need, including workstations and other hardware, software, etc. Connections to the Internet will be available. PRESENTATION Title:_______________________________________________________ Brief Description:_________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ DEMO Name:________________________________________________________________ Demo Description:_________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ VENDOR Name:______________________________________________________________ Description of how you would like to participate:__________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Manette B. Lazear Digital Libraries Technologies MITRE, 7525 Colshire Dr., McLean, VA 22102 Phone: 703/883-6728 FAX:703/883-3315 (manette@mitre.org) MITRE Mail Stop: Z160 ------------------------------ From: dmckeen@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (Douglas Mckeen) Subject: Paper on International Callbacks Date: 26 May 1994 06:18:21 GMT Organization: University of Alberta I am taking an international marketing course at the University of Alberta right now and I'm considering doing a paper on international callback. I am looking for information on callback services and any problems/experiences that either customers or suppliers of callback services have encountered. I am still debating whether to pursue this paper from a business plan perspective or from a research perspective. Any input I receive will probably sway me one way or the other. I am also looking to expand on some of the ideas I have already. Such as ... -The name of the service - One name for all markets served or tailor the name to suit the countries/customers served. -Language problems - I only speak one language. Will my customers require more? If so, how do I solve this? -Legal/Regulatory Issues (Possibly a whole paper on its own) -What markets should I serve? There are a few possible target markets. 1) Any customer wishing to connect from anyplace to any other place. (pretty broad) 2) Canadian companies abroad wishing to call Canada or other countries. 3) The many Americans struggling to call Cuba every day. (Canada doesn't have the embargo against Cuba) -Strategic Business Alliance - Should I form some form of alliance with "agents" in the foreign countries? That is, to what degree should I get involved? I could try promoting the service from here but it would be difficult. -Other - Still very important are issues such as price, billing, what countries to serve, costs, sales force, etc. I mentioned mostly marketing or business issues above; however, I am also interested in the technical and operational issues (these are part of the product). Any piece of information or insight you may have will be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any documentation/articles on the subject I would appreciate hearing about them. Thanks, in advance, for any info you send. If you would like to call me, my phone number is (403) 483-8759 (5pm-11pm MST) or you can e-mail me. :-) Regards, Doug McKeen dmckeen@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #252 ****************************** -------------------------------------------------------------------------------