TELECOM Digest Fri, 16 Sep 94 15:39:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 368 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson UCLA Short Course on Adv Comm Sys Using DSP (William R. Goodin) UCLA Short Course on Optical Fiber Communications (William R. Goodin) The Industry of the Future? (Sid Shniad) Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls (Daniel E. Ganek) Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls (Fred Goldstein) Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls (Paul A. Lee) Some Bell Canada International Rates Change (Dave Leibold) Bell Canada Goes A-Trashing (Dave Leibold) Re: Cellphones and Smoke Detectors (Douglas Reuben) Now AT&T is _Lying_ About True-Voice (Nick Sayer) 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 America On Line. 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: BGOODIN@unex.ucla.edu (William R. Goodin) Subject: UCLA Short Course on Adv Comm Sys Using DSP Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 12:42:02 Organization: UCLA Extension UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Advanced Communication Systems Using Digital Signal Processing", November 14-18, 1994, on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors will be Bernard Sklar, Communications Engineering Services, and Frederick Harris, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, San Diego State University. This course provides comprehensive coverage of advanced digital communications. It differs from other communications courses in its emphasis on applying modern digital signal processing techniques to the implementation of communication systems. This makes the course essential for practitioners in the rapidly changing field. Error-correction coding, spread spectrum techniques, and bandwidth-efficient signalling are all discussed in detail. Basic digital signaling methods and the newest modulation-with -memory techniques are presented, along with trellis-coded modulation. Topics that are covered include: signal processing overview and baseband transmission, bandpass modulation and demodulation, digital signal processing tools and technology, non-recursive filters, channel coding: error detection and correction, modulation and coding trade-offs and bandwith-efficient signaling, signal conditioning, adaptive algorithms for communication systems, spread spectrum techniques, and multiple access and cryptographic techniques. Each participant receives a copy of the text, "Digital Communications-Fundamentals and Applications", by Bernard Sklar. ___________________________ For additional information and a complete course description, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucla.edu ------------------------------ From: BGOODIN@unex.ucla.edu (William R. Goodin) Subject: UCLA Short Course on Optical Fiber Communications Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 18:29:45 Organization: UCLA Extension On October 25-28, 1994, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Optical Fiber Communications: Techniques and Applications", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors are Tran V. Muoi, Optical Communication Products, Del Hanson, Hewlett-Packard, and Richard E. Wagner, Bellcore. This course offers a review of optical fiber communications fundamentals, then focuses on state-of-the-art technology and its applications in present and future communication networks. The course begins with the major building blocks of optical fiber communications systems ( fiber and passive components, sources and transmitters, detectors and receivers). Actual design examples of fiber optic links for short-haul and long-haul applications are studied, and recent technological advances in addressing problems due to fiber loss and dispersion are presented. Recent developments in local and metropolitan area networks to support multimedia traffic and their evolving architectures and standards are fully covered. The treatment on telecommunications systems includes various technological options for subscriber networks, exchange networks, and the global undersea networks. Network architectures evolving from the traditional telephone and CATV networks are contrasted. Technology trends and directions for realizing the so-called information superhighway are examined as well. Finally, optical networks using wavelength routing and multi-wavelength cross-connects are presented. For additional information and a complete course description, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucla.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 08:58:15 -0700 Reply-To: pen-l@ecst.csuchico.edu From: D Shniad Subject: The Industry of the Future? Turmoil in de-regulated phone industry -- "On the eve of divestiture [in 1984], AT&T was the world's largest private employer with over one million employees ... Since divestiture AT&T has eliminated some 140,000 bargaining unit jobs, while it has established and purchased major nonunion subsidiaries ... Since October 1993, major corporate restructurings accelerated [among the Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOCs, the companies that were created as a result of the AT&T divestiture] ... US West announced the elimination of 9,400 jobs ... Bell South said it was eliminating 10,800 jobs ... GTE announced the elimination of 17,000 jobs ... Pacific Telesis said it would downsize by 10,000 jobs at Pacific Bell ... AT&T declared it would eliminate another 15,000 jobs on top of already scheduled force reductions of 6,000 operator and call servicing positions and 7,500 jobs at Global Information Solutions, formerly NCR ... Ameritech said it would reduce its workforce by 6,000 ... NYNEX ... scaled back its plans to eliminate 22,500 jobs to 16,800 positions ... "From the standpoint of labor-management relations, this massive industrial restructuring is in jeopardy of severing the traditional link between high productivity growth through rapid technological change and rising employee incomes with employment security. When compared to the decade prior to divestiture, post-divestiture productivity growth has fallen by one-half as networks are duplicated and many of the one million employees in the industry now face chronic insecurity, displacement, and stagnating incomes. Breaking the industry's social contract through this uncoupling may have serious long term consequences for productivity, service quality, and stable labor-management relations." "Telecommunications Labor-Management Relations One Decade After the AT&T Divestiture," a paper presented by Jeffrey Keefe, Institute of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, and Karen Boroff, Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, at the conference on "International Developments in Workplace Innovation: Implications for Canadian Competitiveness," Park Plaza Hotel, Toronto, June 15 and 16, 1995, pages 1-5. Sid Shniad [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Sid, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the changes in the telephone industry over the past decade have never been seen before and will never be seen again. Even with the massive reductions in work force over the past decade, telco still remains the largest employer anywhere. Trying to simply grasp the numbers involved is difficult. Where do you think it will go from here? Will there still be further cutbacks, or 'downsizing'? Will it finally get to the point all the telcos in the world eventually employ only a dozen or so people among them with the computers doing all the rest of the work? PAT] ------------------------------ From: ganek@apollo.hp.com (Daniel E. Ganek) Subject: Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 14:34:31 GMT Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA In article Sanjiv Narayan writes: > Here's my question: If the NYNEX switching equipment is smart enough > to figure out that I need to dial a '1', why does it not go ahead and > complete the call anyway. I am willing to pay for the call regardless > of whether I redial with a '1' prefix or they complete it for me, > right !!? In NE dialing "1" first means it's a toll call, i.e. it'll cost you something extra. Be glad they now tell you exactly what they're looking for. Less than a year ago the message was "Your call can not be completed as dialed, please try again". Of course, I would I'd get flustered and would forget whether I had dialed a "1" or not. It would usually take me three tries to get it right. :-) dan ------------------------------ From: Fred Goldstein Subject: Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls Date: Fri, 16 Sep 94 12:18:23 EDT > However if I call a number outside my local calling area (but still ** > within ** my 508 area-code), a recording asks you to redial with a '1' > prefixed before the seven-digit number I am calling. > Here's my question: If the NYNEX switching equipment is smart enough > to figure out that I need to dial a '1', why does it not go ahead and > complete the call anyway. I am willing to pay for the call regardless > of whether I redial with a '1' prefix or they complete it for me, > right !!? > Anybody know why NYNEX will not complete a call outside my local > calling area (but within the same area code), unless I dial a '1'. You're dealing with the intersection of two issues. The more important one is the North American Numbering Plan, which changes at year-end. In the past, area codes could not have "0" or "1" in the middle, so the phone company could usually tel by the second digit whether you were calling in-area or out-of- area. IF your local area had "interchangeable" (0/1 in middle) prefix codes, this didn't work, but neither Massachusetts 508 nor some northern California areas did this. As of 1/1/95, area codes can "look like" prefix codes. Thus Alabama will get 334, Colorado 970, etc. Thus it is NECESSARY for area code calls to be preceded by a "1", so that "334" is interpreted as "local area 334" and "1334" is interpreted as "area code 334". What is PROHIBITED is the use of "1+prefix" for in-area long distance. Thus 1334 now means, in Mass., "a toll call to prefix 334 in my home area", but as of 10/15 that's verboten. There are two practical ways to implement this. One is to use "1+" for area code calls only, while in-area toll never dials 1. The other is to use "1+area code" for all TOLL calls and all OUT OF AREA calls (even local, as in 508 to 617 near the border), and 7-digit for LOCAL in-area only. NYNEX wanted to do the former but got pressured into the latter. Thus you will dial 1-508-369 to dial Concord 369 from Marlboro, rather than today's 1-369. Given this new numbering plan, NYNEX' switching systems will no longer be able to tell you "you need to dial 1" when it's unambiguous what you mean. Today, the dial-1 restriction is simply an artifact to prevent people from making toll calls without knowing it. Soon, it'll be that OR, at times, a way of indicating that the next three digits are an area code, local or not. Fred R. Goldstein k1io fgoldstein@bbn.com <- note new address! Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 15:31:55 -0400 Subject: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: NYNEX Makes You Dial '1' For Same Area-Code Calls In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 Issue 367, Sanjiv Narayan wrote (in part): > ...if I call a number outside my local calling area (but still ** > within ** my 508 area-code), a recording asks you to redial with a '1' > prefixed before the seven-digit number I am calling. > Here's my question: If the NYNEX switching equipment is smart enough > to figure out that I need to dial a '1', why does it not go ahead and > complete the call anyway. I am willing to pay for the call regardless > of whether I redial with a '1' prefix or they complete it for me, > right !!? > It becomes very cumbersome when you have to redial the number with the > '1' prefixed. I never had a similar problem with Pacific Bell in So. > California. The only time a '1' was required was when I dialed a > number in another area code. If a number was outside your local > calling area, Pacific Bell simply billed you for it. No redialing was > ever required. The use of a '1' as a dialing prefix varies, depending on LEC practice, local calling area layout, and regulatory requirements. In many parts of the country, prepending long distance dialed numbers with a '1' has always been required as an indication to the caller that toll charges would be incurred. However, the practical use of the initial '1' has been to flag the three-digit string that follows it as an area code. In many instances, until recently, the pattern of area code numbers (NPAs) and exchange numbers (COCs) has made it possible to keep '1+' dialing as an indication to the caller that a given call is either local or toll. Originally, NPAs all had a first digit of 2-9, a second digit of 0 or 1, and a third digit of 0-9. COCs had 2-9 for the first AND second digit, and 0-9 for the third. In the early 1970s, areas that were then running short of available phone numbers started assigning COCs with a second digit of 0-9 -- overlapping the pattern used for NPAs. In some metropolitan areas, careful coordination of number assignments makes 10-digit local calls to adjoining area codes possible. The proliferation of phone numbers for "new technology" services has brought about geographically smaller NPAs and overlay NPAs, and has accelerated the upcoming deployment of interchangeable NPAs (no longer requiring that the second digit be '0' or '1'). With the distinction between NPAs and COCs gone, the use of an initial '1' to flag an area code in the dial string becomes crucial. Conversely, *absence* of the initial '1' denotes a seven-digit phone number. With the imminent revisions to the North American Numbering Plan, the use of the initial '1' as a toll call flag had to be reconsidered by telcos and by state regulators. Number assignments and patterns were determined by Bellcore under the auspices of the FCC, but the means of dialing those numbers was left up to each LEC, subject to state regulatory requirements. Some state PUC/PSCs relented and dropped the requirement that a toll call begin with a '1', while others continued to require the distinction, and still others allowed either means. The regulatory requirements then have to be addressed by the telcos, based on the numbers assigned in their service area. Here in Wisconsin, for instance, the '1' is held to indicate a toll call AND an area code, so toll calls within a given area code must be dialed with '1' plus all 10 digits, and local calls to a different area code must also use 1+10. In Pennsylvania, the option was left to the telcos, so there are parts of the state where a toll call within the same area code can be made with just the seven-digit number, and other parts where 1+10 digit dialing is required for toll calls within the same area. Throughout World Zone 1 (Canada, the U.S., and most Caribbean islands), you should be able to minimize dialing frustrations and wrong numbers by trying your call according to the following: If the call you wish to make is to a number in the same area code, dial seven digits. If the area code is different, or if seven digits doesn't work, dial 1+10 digits. If your call gets intercepted and the intercept message does not give dialing instructions, try dialing 10 digits. And, if all this seems complicated or frustrating, just remember that this is STILL the world's least complicated numbering plan and dialing plan for the size of the phone network and the geographic area involved. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET <=PREFERRED ADDRESS* ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 16 Sep 94 07:18:58 -0500 Subject: Some Bell Canada International Rates Change Organization: FidoNet: The Super Continental - North York, Canada [from Bell News, 12 Sept 94] Overseas rates revised -- Some went up, some went down. We're talking overseas rates to six destinations that took effect on September 1, following interim approval from the CRTC. Rates decreased by 13 per cent on calls to Hong Kong, one of Canada's most frequently called overseas destinations. Rates to Ireland decreased by 16 per cent. Rates increased for calls to: Vietnam (9 per cent), Iran (14 per cent), Saudi Arabia (22 per cent), and Cuba (36 per cent). We're advising customers to minimize the impact of the increases by calling during discount periods and by using our long distance savings plans such as Teleplus Overseas[tm] or Advantage Preferred[tm]. The changes reflect Teleglobe Canada's recent rate revisions to its International Globeaccess Service Tariff (GAT). The GAT represents the wholesale rates charged by Teleglobe to Canadian carriers, including Bell, for carrying overseas traffic. ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@f730.n250.z1.fidonet.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 16 Sep 94 00:31:38 -0500 Subject: Bell Canada Goes A-Trashing Organization: FidoNet: The Super Continental - North York, Canada [from Bell News, 12 Sept 94 - content is Bell Canada's] Knowing our competitors can be a trash-act -- One person's trash is another person's treasure. And we're recycling our competitors' trash into 'gold'. That's right, the sales team, MCSs, associates and other employees in the 905 area code now have a systematic way of sharing competitive information gathered from customers, friends and other sources. It's called the Competitive Trash-Bin. "The information will be collected locally and funneled to your FMS (Field Marketing Specialist) team who, in turn, will feed the information up into the company to departments like product management who can then better support our people with superior sales tools and realistic pricing," says Bruce Simpson, of the 905 FMS team. And so far, more than 200 pieces of paper with competitor information have been collected. "Along the way we are building a district library of competitive knowledge, initiating local marketing campaigns and developing training which is both focused and relevant," says Bruce. The team is looking for any kind of information, from proposals, contracts, competitors propaganda, letters, advertisements, brochures, bills and even newspaper clippings. "Terminal or network, business or residential, big or small, we want it all," says Bruce. Employees in the 905 area can pick up a Competitive Trash-Bin label (bright red) in any one of six sales offices. All they have to do is fill it out, attach it to the 'trash', and drop it in the bin. You can block-out the customer's name or add any comments regarding the situation or your approach. There are also trash-person-of-the-month awards, with cash prizes rewarded to frequent contributors. "We are really going to be able to help everyone keep current with what's happening behind enemy lines," says Bruce. ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (Cid Technologies) Subject: Re: Cellphones and Smoke Detectors Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 02:24:43 PDT On Thu Sep 15 14:41:56 1994, covert@covert.enet.dec.com (John R. Covert) wrote: > So here I am, sitting in a waiting room, and my pocket rings. [...] > Fire alarm goes off and I head for the door. While I'm outside, > various doctors come out to look and see if they can see smoke, and > ask me if I've seen any. Not many people come out; apparently the > building has a lot of trouble with false alarms. > I take a look at the alarm annunciator, and it indicates the hallway I > was in when the alarm went off. Hmmmmm. > Concord firemen arrive, and I ask them, as they're getting out of the > truck, if they have ever known a cellular phone to set off a smoke > detector. They say, "No, but it's an interesting theory." Happens to me all the time at Brown University. They used to have a detector very low, near a payphone. While I was on the payphone, I got a call, and the alarm went off. This happened a few times; we finally figured out it was the .6 watt cellphone. They have since moved the detector elsewhere, generally to high ceilings where the signal is so attenuated so that it will not set the detectors off. It also happens near "safety outlets" in bathrooms, which have a trip in case you drop an AC appliance into water. Interrogations, incoming, and outgoing calls (especially on the three watt models) tend to set these off. Doug dreuben@netcom.com / CID Technologies / (203) 499 - 5221 ------------------------------ From: nsayer@quack.kfu.com (Nick Sayer) Subject: Now AT&T is _Lying_ About True-Voice Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'. Date: 16 Sep 1994 03:43:30 GMT AT&T's latest "True Fraud^H^H^H^H^HVoice" ad has reached a new low in deceptive practices. The add features a rediculous sort of "control room" full of CRTs showing silly waterfall displays of a lady singing their "True Voice" song, though the audio of her singing is quite low in level and has the bass attenuated slightly. This is supposed to be characteristic of a telephone call. They then engage in a before and after. At the point of change, the following all happen: The volume jumps up by probably 20-30 dB. A choir jumps in and starts accompanying the singer. The singer hits a high point in the song. The attenuated bass is put back. The result is a beautiful, broadcast-quality stereo sound. If they're trying to imply that that is what a long distance phone call sounds like (which _despite_ truevoice is _still_ constrained to roughly 300-3000 Hz), then it's nothing short of outright fraud. Business as usual, eh AT&T? Nick Sayer N6QQQ @ N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NOAM +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest' URL: http://www.kfu.com/~nsayer/ ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #368 ******************************