TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Jun 94 15:45:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 270 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Lower Domestic Telephone Rates (Todd Anderson) Re: Training Needed on AT&T PBX Architecture (rkprkp@aol.com) Re: AT&T Divestiture Comments Wanted (rkprkp@aol.com) Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway (Daryl R. Gibson) Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway (David H. Close) Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway (Carl Moore) Re: LD Carrier's Message Delivery Service (Jonathan Loo) Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA (Steven Bradley) Seeking Switching Classes For Employees (Robin Griswold) Re: ETSI Contact (Bob Shaw) Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System (Sam Spens Clason) Re: 716 Now Split Between 7D and 1 + 716 + 7D (James H. Cloos Jr.) Re: Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? (David H. Close) How Are 800 Numbers Billed? (David Wuertele) Personal 800 Number Availbility (William Y. Lai) Re: What's a 1A3B? (John Zambito) Last Laugh! Re: Please Explain Term 'Steaming Terminal' (rkprkp@aol.com) 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: tjaiz@char.vnet.net (Todd Anderson) Subject: Re: Lower Domestic Telephone Rates Date: 3 Jun 1994 10:57:28 -0400 Organization: Vnet Internet Access, Inc. - Charlotte, NC. (704) 374-0779 National Information Systems (nis@netcom.com) wrote: > Does anyone know of a company that shops for low telephone rates for > you? > For the last five years, we've changed phone companies every year. > Each time we sign up for low rates in one area we're calling to but > the other areas are very expensive. > We use the telephones for tele-sales and heavy outgoing FAXes. I've > heard there are small, independent telephone consultants that can mix > and match the best rates into a coherent package deal. We're looking > for something customized to us. > Has anyone ever heard of this? Dave, From your post I would guess that your company has switched phone companies yearly amongst the big three [AT&T, MCI, Sprint] perhaps in response to their intense telemarketing market share battle. They advertise and give you one low rate on interstate, intrastate, intraLATA, or 800+ traffic, and stick it to you in other areas. There are utility bill audit consultants that check your phone or electricity bill for incorrect tariff assignments to services, overbilling, etc. and split the savings with you for their fee. They usually don't sell alternative long distance services. You should definitely consider a full service Long Distance Reseller. In the wake of deregulation of the telephone industry, long distance has effectively become commoditized. There are a wide spectrum of long distance providers, some solely purchase large blocks of long distance time and resell them to smaller users, some companies are regional providers in that they have hardware [switches, fiberoptics, microwave lines] that augment their service to national coverage by purchasing long distance minutes from the big three and other regional providers. There are legions of independent sales agents reselling long distance for these resellers, untold MLM schemes, and many competitive legitimate viable resellers. Check out Discount Long Distance Digest by emailing Van Hefner, moderator at vantek@aol.com as an excellent resource. The big three have engaged in such an expensive advertising war to capture business as of late requiring them to raise prices in an lock-step oligarchical fashion- 3.6% rate hike in January; AT&T and MCI just imposed another 4% rate hike June 1. Choosing an appropriate reseller for you phone services can definitely save you money. I am researching a start-up of reselling long-distance services in NC/SC and see a definite niche of opportunity to provide discount LD to small-medium companies with phone bills insufficient to garnish much attention from the big three. We aim to provide a comprehensive line of quality long distance products from the major providers coupled with the attentive customer service of small company. Email me if you have other questions. Regards, Todd Anderson ------------------------------ From: rkprkp@aol.com (RKPRKP) Subject: Re: Training Needed on AT&T PBX Architecture Date: 3 Jun 1994 12:11:02 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Sorry no help but I do sympathize. We sell Northern Telecom PBXs and NT makes all its architecture, installation, and maintenance courses available to customers. Keep hammering on AT&T and maybe they will too. Maybe someday when you start replacing switches ...? ------------------------------ From: rkprkp@aol.com (RKPRKP) Subject: Re: AT&T Divestiture Comments Wanted Date: 3 Jun 1994 12:24:04 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) I lived through it and survived! If you want a great book on the subject, I recommend "The Deal of the Century" by Steve Coll. The chapter on "bloody limbs" is incredible. It is a behind the scenes story of all the wheeling and dealing that went on behind the scenes at ATT and DOJ leading to the divestiture agreement. Great reading for anyone interested. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Jun 1994 10:28:31 -0700 (MST) From: Daryl R. Gibson Subject: Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway Ah, but Pat, if you reform the postal service, you're going to have to find some other jobs for the illiterate ... I guess "postal service" is an oxymoron, isn't it? Daryl (801) 478-2950 (801) 489-6348 drg@du1.byu.edu 71171.2036@compuserve.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I think it was more appropriate when the agency was called the "Post Office". PAT] ------------------------------ From: dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu (David H. Close) Subject: Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway Date: 3 Jun 1994 05:02:17 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena dos@spam.wdns.wiltel.com (Dave O'Shea) writes: > (Sarcasm intended. I drop by the post office weekly to give them the > mail that has been delivered to me, though it is addressed to people > sometimes near, sometimes far. And exchanging mis-delivered mail is a > great way to meet the neighbors.) We all get mis-delivered mail; the more valid mail I get, the more likely other pieces get included. It does sometimes help to complain to the local supervisor about a particularly inept carrier. My complaint lately is about the USPS inability to interpret its own addresses. I sent a letter last week to XXX, CA 917XX-YYYY. This was one of those PO boxes which have their own unique zip code. The address could have been PO BOX XXYYYY, CCC, CA 917XX-YYYY, but obviously the PO BOX line is totally redundant and I omitted it. The letter was returned marked "insufficient address". When I complained to the local supervisor, his response was "you didn't include the box number; I don't see it." Sometimes this does work, though. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa you dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu dave@compata.ccss.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've received letters addressed to me only as '60690-1570' and nothing else on the envelope. It should work, but as you point out, some postal workers will contend that the box number is missing. :) PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 9:47:35 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: U.S. Postal Service and the Information Highway What sort of mixup would cause something to PO box 10003 in zipcode 60610 to be delivered to PO box 1570, zipcode 60690? Common arguments against privatization of the mail: the private firms would snap up the most profitable routes, and leave the rest to the public agency. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I left out part of the story I guess. In addition to Box 1570 I also have Box 1003 at the same post office. The one is more personal mail while the other is more business stuff. Most post offices use the last two digits of the zip code as the first two digits of the box numbers; therefore boxes at Ft. Dearborn Station (60610) are really 10xxx or 10xxxx, with zeros used as filler when needed. So Box 3 there becomes Box 10003 when writing to it. The only exceptions to this here are 60680/60690. These are the real old, original post offices here; they still use box numbers without reference to the zip code on the front. I used to see the guy who had Box 1 at 60690 all the time when I went to get my mail. He had the box for fifty years or so and his correct address was , Box 1, Chicago 60690. Now whenever any very low number boxes become available -- not often, because the box holders hang on to them -- usually some worker at the post office grabs it for himself and his personal mail. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 15:51:32 -0400 From: Jonathan Subject: Re: LD Carrier's Message Delivery Service C&P Telephone, a Bell Atlantic Company, used to have a service called Send-A-Call that worked like a message-delivery service. It worked from pay phones and cost 50 cents. The service sometimes did not work as intended, and would activate when it was not supposed to and interfere with people's conversations. It also lost money. Bell Atlantic is now in the process of removing Send-A-Call. ------------------------------ From: steven@sgb.oau.org (Steven Bradley) Subject: Re: Cost of Caller ID in PA Organization: The Forest City Exchange, Forest City, Florida Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 00:00:26 GMT Greg Vaeth at Jerrold Communications (gvaeth@netcom.com) wrote: > An insert in my latest bill contained a notice that Bell Atlantic will > offer Caller ID in Pennsylvania in August. The cost for residential > customers is $6.50/month, business is $8.50. Call blocking and > anonymous call rejection are free. This charge seem outrageous > considering that the equipment to do it is already there, right? How > else does return call, repeat call and all that stuff work. How does > this rate compare to other states? For residences ... In Central Florida it's $7/month in Southern Bell territory (with same option as you listed) if you also want name delivery as well as number. Also in Southern Bell territory you can have it for $5/month without name (number only) and without the extras you listed above (available at extra cost, so high it's cheaper to take name delivery and not use it). In Sprint/United (yes, that is a long distance carrier OWNing a local telephone company, you are NOT seeing things!), it's $7/month, number only, name supposed to be available in the future, in FEW areas it is already available. No difference in costs without name. No anonymous call blocking unless you buy a box that automatically does it for you (non phone company supplied). As per fee, you forgot the cost of the card they have to install which includes a 1200 bps modem on it to delivery the service. That modem section is NOT needed on the other services you mentioned. Its good to see they finally had common sense in PA. Internet: steven@sgb.oau.org Steven G. Bradley steven@gate.net Forest City, Florida GEnie: s.bradley6@genie.geis.com CompuServe: 73232.505@compuserve.com Phone: 407/862-7226 America Online: sgbradley@aol.com Modem: 407/862-8088 ------------------------------ From: iphase!iex.iex.com!robin@uunet.UU.NET Subject: Seeking Switching Classes For Employees Organization: IEX Corporation Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 17:36:16 GMT I am posting this for a friend who is interested in her company attending classes on switching or indepth telecommunications. I was not sure where to post this but we do not know of any classes and didn't know if anyone might be aware of any being offered for attending by people not associated with any vendors. If you have any information please email me or call Sherry Dotson at 214-550-0900. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Robin Griswold [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Robin, I know that Berkeley has a large number of continuing education classes on telecommunications stuff. Their announcements about these classes appear all the time here in the Digest. Jane Frazer in Ohio also used to send quite a bit of stuff about continuing education classes at the University there. Maybe someone in Texas or near you will submit information about this in your area. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 03 Jun 1994 13:55:10 CET From: SHAW +41 22 730 5338 Subject: Re: ETSI Contact perdigot@hp_1.dee.uc.pt (Joao Perdigoto) wrote: > Does anyone knows if ETSI has an ftp site available? ETSI does not have an FTP site. Currently you can contact them electronically only via X.400 but SMTP mail support is planned for the near future. Their email address is: S=helpdesk; P=etsi; A=atlas; C=fr Insert the surname of anyone you know at ETSI in place of 'helpdesk' above to reach ETSI staff. ETSI's other contact info is: European Telecommunications Standards Institute Route des Lucioles Boîte postale 152 Sophia Antipolis 06561 VALBONNE CEDEX France Telephone +33 92 94 42 00 Telex 042 470040 f Fax +33 93 65 47 16 et +33 93 65 28 17 Hope this helps, Bob Shaw Information Services Department ITU [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just a quick reminder to our readers that ITU partially funds this Digest with a generous monthly stipend as part of their information services. If you have not yet sent them a note of thanks for their support, I wish you would do so today. See the masthead of this issue for details. PAT] ------------------------------ From: d92-sam@dront.nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) Subject: Re: Performance of L.A. Cellular System Date: 3 Jun 1994 17:25:58 GMT Organization: The Royal Institute of Technology In nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) writes: > Er, cell sites are typically linked by land line to a central > site that controls the system. Only the last hop to the mobile phone > is radio. If you lose the link to the central site, even two phones > in the same cell can't talk. It's not a distributed system at all. Not necessarily, it might run on microwave radiolinks. The advantage to landlines is that you don't have to rely on a (sometimes) competitor. But as John says, if a base station isn't connected with the net, it wont work. Sam Spens Clason, Web ------------------------------ From: James.Cloos@Rahul.NET (James H. Cloos Jr.) Subject: Re: 716 Now Split Between 7D and 1 + 716 + 7D Organization: a2i network Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 06:37:04 GMT "ScottF" == Scott D Fybush writes: > NYNEX/NY announced today that its portion of 716 in Western NY > will use 1 + 716 + 7D for LD within the area code. This is > apparently a change from the previously-announced 7D dialing. > It is also in conflict with the Rochester Tel half of 716, > which as far as I know is sticking with 7D. > Are any other NPAs split in dialing methods like this? In the Buffalo LATA, Dunkirk & Fredonia Tel has announced 7D for Intra-NPA dialing. As I recall, the announcement indicated that 1 + 716 + 7D will not be supported. Previously 1 + 7D was standard, and 1 + 716 + 7D at least used to work, bypassing the checks for toll blocking in the process. (Unintentionally discovered. I'd forgotten that inter- LATA was 1 + 7D and when my mother asked me why she couldn't get thru to a hospital in Buffalo to check on her aunt, I replied something to the effect of: `You have to dial the area code when calling LD.' :-) I've heard that the other independents in the Buffalo LATA also announced 7D, but cannot I cannot confirm this. (There are at least two or three other independents, although D&F may be the only one in Chautauqua county to still be locally owned.) James H. Cloos, Jr. James.Cloos@Rahul.NET (cloos@io.com) Snail: POBox 1111, Amherst, NY 14226-1111 Finger for pgp pub key. Phone: +1 716 673-1250 (machine now; fax eventually) ------------------------------ From: dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu (David H. Close) Subject: Re: Interactive "Voice Mail" System For PC? Date: 3 Jun 1994 04:52:44 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Paul A. Lee writes: > A typical voice port board will cost from US$500 to US$1500. You can also buy an ZyXEL modem with built-in codec and DTMF decoder. With it you get, no charge but no support, source code for a PC-voice mailbox system. Try info@zyxel.com or tech@zyxel.com. Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu dave@compata.ccss.com ------------------------------ From: dave@sparc4-5.gctech.co.jp (Dave) Subject: How Are 800 Numbers Billed? Organization: Graphic Communications Laboratories (GCL) Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 06:59:24 GMT I am interested in finding out how much 800 numbers cost, and how they are installed. I'm contemplating a voicemail application that users would use 1-800-something to access, and I'm trying to get an idea how these systems are set up. 1. How much does the 800 service cost per call received? 2. How does zone (local or long-distance) of call affect price? 3. How many calls can be received at once? (Is there even a limit?) 4. If a single 800 number is receiving 20-100 calls per minute, what kind of PBX <-> Telco connection is necessary? And most importantly, 5. Is there a book or something where I can read about all this? Thanks, David Wuertele ------------------------------ From: William Y. Lai Subject: Personal 800 Number Availbility Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 14:55:25 EDT A while back I remember that several LD companies were offering plans for personal 800 numbers. Does anyone know of availaibility/details of these plans today? Thanks, email: lai@seas.gwu.edu Dept. of Electrical Eng. George Washington Univ. Washington, D.C. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They are all over the place. Almost every carrier I can think of offers some form of 800 service for small users such as in residential settings. Some have much better deals than others in my opinion. Cable and Wireless is one of the best. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jvz@pt.com (John Zambito) Subject: Re: What's a 1A3B? Organization: Performance Technologies, Incorporated Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 18:35:17 GMT varney@uscbu.ih.att.com (Alan Leon Varney) writes: > It's no distinction, except in areas quickly going to digital COs. > The "1A3B" is really a 1A ESS(tm) switch with an Attached Processor > System (APS) controlled by a 3B20 Duplex(tm) processor. The 3B20D > supplies the switch with backup disk storage, and possibily other > services such as SS7. Ya gotta love this Internet! Since you're "in the know," how about giving us a summary of the switches AT&T has offered over the years. How about starting with a simple question. What does ESS stand for? John Zambito, Performance Technologies Incorporated jvz@pt.com 315 Science Parkway, Rochester, New York 14620 uupsi!ptsys1!jvz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: ESS = Electronic Switching System. So named because the telephone exchanges of the past were electro-mechanical in operation. This acronym along with lots of others which puzzle readers from time to time can be looked up in our interative glossary program at the Telecom Archives. If you can use anonymous ftp, then access the archives and pull the glossary files to your site. If you don't have anonymous ftp (or prefer to just look up single entries) you can do so using the Telecom Archives Email Information Service. You need to get the help file for this (just write and ask if you need a copy) and the command to use is GLOSSARY , where is the abbreviation or acronym you are inquiring about. If you send email to the archives in the required format (see the help file) you will get back email giving the definition or meaning of the term(s) you specified. It is fun to use, even if I do say so myself having written the script used to process GLOSSARY and SEARCH requests. Oh yes, you can also search for subject titles and author names in back issues of the Digest, going back to 1989 using the SEARCH command in the same way. Just write and ask for the help file if you do not already have a copy. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rkprkp@aol.com (RKPRKP) Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Please Explain the Term 'Steaming Terminal' Date: 3 Jun 1994 11:59:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) In article , dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) writes: Steaming Terminal is a common term for the situation which arises when a terminal user spills their coffee or coke into the ventilating slits on top of the terminal casing. In such an instance, there is usually a large "ssssspppppppphhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiittttttzzzzzzzing" sound followed by a cloud of steam which is formed as the liquid beverage finds it's way to the power supply of the terminal. This phenoma has also occured in several fraternity houses when a drunken greek has attempted to urinate on live terminal or PC. In many cases, the "steaming terminal" will be accompanied by a "screaming frat rat" as the electricity races up the urine stream and into the student's private parts. Hope this helps. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is an urban legend, and nothing but an urban legend that a homeless man here in Chicago once died from electrocution after urinating on the third (electrified) rail of the subway tracks. According to the legend, police found his body in the subway tunnel, mangled after having been struck by a moving train and with 'electrical burn marks' in the aforementioned area, leading the police to speculate on exactly what must have taken place. However it is true that liquids hot and cold can and do get spilled in awkward places. I am reminded of what happened to me long ago. Readers of several years here know that when I was in high school I had a part-time job working at the University of Chicago in the telephone room. I worked weekend afternoons and a couple of evenings per week. During the summer I worked full time hours. I guess I was 16 years old; this was in the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. A hot -- very hot -- Sunday afternoon in August, 1959, about three in the afternoon. I came sashaying into the phone room, annoyed at having to leave the beach to come to work. With a package of Pall Mall cigarettes in one hand and a large container of Pepsi-Cola in the other, I sat down at the position where I usually worked. The woman I relieved was glad to see me, said "hi" and "bye" in the same breath and split. During the summer when school was out, and especially on weekends in the summer the campus was deserted so only one person was needed in the phone room on the afternoon/evening shift. I had been working maybe ten minutes when I reached across the switchboard to grab a pad of paper I needed to use and splash! Over went the large, half-full container of Pepsi ... all down through the keys in the switch- board ... phzzzz ... fizzz ... pop ... all of a sudden the switchboard was lighting up all over, no one was on any lines, the cross talk was something else to hear ... I grabbed some rags and started furiously cleaning up what I could but by that time much of the liquid had dribbled down inside the operator's console with the switchboard continuing to buzz and hiss at me, lights flashing off and on everywhere in front of me. I evacuated myself at that point to a position further down the line (in those days U of C had a sixteen-position manual cord board) and resumed handling calls, and I also put in a call to repair service on '611'. All I told the repair clerk was that 'something seems to have gone wrong with the switchboard ...' and the clerk put me on hold a couple minutes. A man came on the line and said he would be out there in a few minutes. Well sure enough, about fifteen minutes later a man from IBT repair at the 'Kenwood Bell' office came in. I was working at the other end of the room at that point trying hard to act as innocent as I could. The guy sat there at the switchboard, opened it up and looked inside the console. Giving a sigh, he went and got an electric heater, sat it there and started drying out the insides. As that was going on he had a little tool of some kind and was picking at the wires and the connections, using a cloth to dry things out. This guy sat there for two hours, from about 4:30 on Sunday afternoon until about 6:30 .. and he never said a word to me ... just sat there with his little metal picking tool, his rag, a brush and other stuff. I thought it wise to keep my distance and sit elsewhere *without* anything to drink in my vicinity. Finally he put the whole thing back together and packed up his stuff and he asked me what happened. "I dunno," I told him, "I guess 'something' must have gotten spilled in there,". "Well, whatever it was," he said, "it had sugar in it. I wish it had been a glass of water instead of all that sticky stuff." He said nothing for a minute as he reflected on it, then he said, "You know, if I were to call Mrs. Leyden (the phone room supervisor) tomorrow and tell her about this, *someone* would probably get fired ...". Well, bless him, he never did say anything to Mrs. Leyden or anyone else about it for that matter, but that particular switchboard position never did work right after that. It worked, but the action was always a little funny compared to the other positions, and cross-talk on the extensions served from that position was sometimes present. A day or two later, another operator who sat at that position most of the time complained she did not like it any longer and moved somewhere else. Yes, remember to always keep beverages out of reach. Trouble is most of us have to learn the hard way; I know I did. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #270 ******************************