TELECOM Digest Wed, 28 Sep 94 10:47:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 380 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? (Niall Gallagher) Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? (John R. Levine) Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? (Sam Spens Clason) Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog (Brian Totty) Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog (Alex Cena) Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog (Dan Goldberg) Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phones (Mark Solsman) Distance Between Two Points (Steve Edwards) Telrad Key-BX (Alan Boritz) Fax DID Technologies - What is E&M (Stuart McRae) Ameritech to Offer SLIP, PPP; What's Their Correct WWW? (Walt Lillyman) FCC Reort on LD Carrier Code Assignments (Bob Keller) ATM OC Specifications (Christopher Wolf) New 800 Services (Steven Friedlander) 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 09:16:00 -0400 From: niall gallagher Subject: Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? Call Metering (known as Periodic Pulse Metering, PPM, or Subscriber Premises Metering, SPM) is used extensively outside North America. Each meter pulse provides the user with an indication that one charge unit has been consumed. For analog lines the pulse can be sent using (a) 12 KHz tone, (b) 16 KHz tone, or (c) a 50Hz balanced tone. Each market tends to have specific requirements for tone level and duration. For ISDN, there is a service call Advice of Charge, which provides similar functionality. The reason that North America never adopted PPM goes back to the initial philosophy of call billing. In North America, it was the standard practice for local calls to be unmeasured or flat-rate and for all long distance calls to be charged. The customer was provided with an itemised bill listing all the calls and the amount charge. Any billing dispute could be discussed on the basis of the itemised bill. In Europe and European-influenced markets, all calls were charged and long distance was not itemised. Before modern SPC switches, the meter pulses were generated at a transit exchange and were counted be mechanical counters at the local exchange. Each month, the PTT would take a photograph of the subscribers' meter and send this as input to the billing process. The subscriber got a bill saying that they had used nnn units -- please pay xxx. In order to assuage feelings that they were being overcharged, the PTTs offered the metering pulses to the subscriber's premises -- real-time indication of call costs. Instant gratification; although as Pat says, this indication of call costs did tend to reduce usage and was not marketed hard by the PTTs. Billing philosophies are changing now (new equipment, competition etc.) and many PTTs (or PTOs as they now like to be known) provide itemised bills. Some even offer this as a no-charge service! Regards, Niall Gallagher niall@bnr.ca Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 10:04 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. > I'm wondering whether there is any work being done on a real-time > display of the cost of a call. No. Toll billing in North America has always been retrospective. That is, at the time of the call they collect the raw data on times and number called, but they don't actually compute the price until they send you the bill. Indeed, with various volume discount plans, there's often no way to know what the price will be until the end of the month anyway. Furthermore, (as has been noted in a forum in the Digital Dungheap That May Not Be Named Here) in many cases the IXCs and LECs are now and will shortly be in competition, and the IXC really does not want to give the LEC per-call pricing info. Outside North America, real time pricing is trivial, because the billing is done with impulses. Each impulse costs the same (on the order of a dime in European countries) but the time you get for one ranges from 15 minutes for a local call at night to a second or two for an international call during the day. The impulse can be superimposed on the subscriber's phone line, and mechanical impulse counters have been available for decades. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: d92-sam@dront.nada.kth.se (Sam Spens Clason) Subject: Re: "Cost of Call" Indication? Date: 28 Sep 1994 12:52:35 GMT In oleh@eskimo.com (Ole Hellevik) writes: > Lee Ziegenhals (lcz@dptspd.sat.datapoint.com) wrote: >> I'm wondering whether there is any work being done on a real-time >> display of the cost of a call. > It has been available (for a quarterly fee) in Norway for as long as I > can remember, a little box next to the phone with two counters, on > resettable, one not, indicating number of 'periods' (One period always > has the same price whether the call is local or LD, but the length in > time would be different.) This box would receive a pulse from the > local switch when you enter a period, and would in effect be parallell > with a similar counter in the local exchange. Same thing in neighbouring Sweden. Until a couple of years ago all calls were measured in 0,29 krona units, just as in Norway. But nowadays everything except local calls is either billed by the second or has a fixed price-tag (calling a pager is 1,5 or 6 krona "flat rate"). This applies to ~2/3 of the Swedish PSTN. I don't know if the old unit measurers understands this kind of billing. Knowing the exact cost is nice, but knowing what kind of call (local, long-distance, etc) is halfway there. It would help avoiding surprises and give a rough estimate of the cost. In Australia (I was there three years ago) the exchange tells you what kind of call you're placing. Calling within an area codes doesn't necessarily mean that you're placing a local (flat rate) call. Having dialed a long-distance call (STD?) there is an "STD-tone" before the call goes thru so the customer knows. The ideal is of course is that the customer could switch this service on and off at will. Couldn't this be implemented quite easily? Does it still exist in Oz; does it exist anyhwere else? Sam Sam Spens Clason ------------------------------ From: bri@sea-monkey.engr.sgi.com (Brian Totty) Subject: Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog Organization: Silicon Graphics, Mountain View, CA Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 08:54:31 GMT In article , ron@pyro.wro.dec.com (Ron S. van Zuylen) writes: > I'm looking for some feedback on digital cellular service. Cellular > One in the San Franscisco Bay Area has recently lowered their digital > service prices to an acceptable level; it is slightly lower than the > analog service now. They are also in the process of increasing their > digital coverage. I bought a Motorola 950 Digital two days ago. I wanted a cellular phone, and the dual-mode phone can do analog anyway, so it seemed like a reasonable idea. The Cellular One promotions made the decision for me. Their "digital flex plan" has lower monthly and per minute rates than most analog plans, and the price is the same whether you connect in digital or analog mode. I haven't used the phone enough to have too many observations. Both analog and digital seem clear in the Palo Alto -> San Jose area. However, I did do a test, calling my office phone in both analog and digital modes. I made a sound in one phone and listened in the other. Analog mode delivered the sound nearly instantaneously while digital mode had a noticable delay. The delay's not as bad as satellite latencies, but it is mildly irritating. Perhaps a tenth of a second? I actually wanted to wait until the Motorola Micro TAC deluxe digital phones became available, with tactile ringer, etc. but these are apparently behind schedule, and I wasn't sure how long the Cell One promotion would last. Brian Totty Silicon Graphics, MS 580 2011 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043-1389 email: bri@sgi.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 08:58:15 EST From: Alex Cena Subject: Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog ron@pyro.wro.dec.com (Ron S. van Zuylen) wrote: > I'm looking for some feedback on digital cellular service. Cellular > One in the San Franscisco Bay Area has recently lowered their digital > service prices to an acceptable level; it is slightly lower than the > analog service now. They are also in the process of increasing their > digital coverage. Do you know how much they are increasing their footprint and over what time frame? I thought the footprint was only the Bay Bridge and parts of Hwy 101. If they are willing to price it below analog, it tells you a little bit about how much its worth relative to analog. As the old saying goes "If its not worth paying for, then..." > Is it truely "improved cellular service" or is it more of a benfit to > the service provider? (Less frequency bandwidth, correct?) Cellular One or Bay Area Cellular is owned 51% by McCaw and 49% by AirTouch and is composed primarily of infrastructure from Ericsson, which only has TDMA-based equipment. CDMA-based equipment is available from Motorola, AT&T and Northern Telecom. The benefit for the carrier is increased call capacity of up to 3x per voice channel in a TDMA environment and 10x-20x in a CDMA so they can amortize the cost of the infrastructure over a broader base of subscribers. CDMA offers the additional benefit of requiring fewer cell sites than an analog network, resulting in up to 60% savings in site acquisition costs. Based on a marketing study conducted by Ameritech using focus groups comprised of their high usage customers, most users rated analog as either worst than analog or as good as analog, while most CDMA rated very good relative to analog. The comment I hear most often even from TDMA proponents is that "the voice quality is getting better and is almost as good as analog." The benefit to you however, is increased call privacy when you are using the phone in a cell with the service. So why is McCaw, Bell South, Southwestern Bell rolling out TDMA if CDMA has the benefits of increase call capacity, cost savings and improved call quality. It was time to market and capacity constraints. The first CDMA service in the US will first become available starting in the first half of 1995 from carriers such as US West, AirTouch, Sprint, GTE and NYNEX. Having said that, my "personal" opinion would be to buy a good analog phone instead. BUT, don't take my word for it. Borrow a digital phone from someone and drive around and make a decision for yourself. Just be sure you are using it in a digital cell otherwise you may think you are on a digital voice channel when you are really on an analog. Regards, Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 02:54:00 +0100 From: ERU ERUDYG Subject: Re: Cellular Digital vs. Analog > Is it truely "improved cellular service" or is it more of a benfit to > the service provider? (Less frequency bandwidth, correct?) I have been workig with TDMA digital systems throughout North America for over two years, mostly with system optimization (from an RF and performance standpoint). I would say that TDMA digital is truely improved cellular service for the provider and the end user, here are some reasons. 1) Security. It is MUCH more difficult for amateur scanner junkies to listen to your phone call. There are very few devices available, and those that are are quite expensive (QUITE EXPENSIVE). Not that the coding and air-spec are secret, but with the need for the special RF detectors, VoCoders, etc. I think the price is to expensive for the average scanner hobyist. 2) Special Services: Look for special services in the near future for subscribers with dual-mode (TDMA/AMPS) phones. The technology makes much more available to subscribers with the right equipment. (Can't give any specific comments at this time) 3) Battery Life: Your phone only transmits 1/3 the time in digital mode. Although the battery life is not increased three-fold over analog, it is extended notably (I think 1.5 to 2.5 times, depending on model of phone, when your phone is operating in digital mode). 4) Robust communication in low signal areas: There are two things which ruin voice quality on analog and digital from an RF standoint, Interference, and Low signal strength. Both Analog and Digital have about the same (+- 3dB C/I) degredation when comes to interference. But when it comes to low signal strength (for instance: in building), my experience is that TDMA digital kicks ass. Obviously, there is no static, and with limited interference, I have staved off the effects of a low quality digital call at signal levels lower than -100dBm. 5 Whats good for the operator can also be good for you: Even you said the price on digital service is a tad lower than analog service in San Fran. I would expect this trend to continue. Dan Goldberg ------------------------------ From: solsman@ra.nrl.navy.mil (Mark Solsman) Subject: Re: Motorola Digital Cellular Phones Date: 28 Sep 1994 00:41:05 GMT Organization: Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC In article <> bri@sea-monkey.engr.sgi.com (Brian Totty) writes: > In the absence, would some kind soul be willing to post about what my > choices are for digital phones (especially the Motorola phones), as > well as any info on when lightweight "vibracall" phones might be > available? I would very much appreciate it! Well, I will list all the digital handheld phones I know of. I have some limited information on each phone, so email me if you would like to hear it. DIGITAL PORTABLE PHONES: Blaupunkt TC-242 11.2oz ? DiamondTel DT25X 10.8oz $995 Ericsson DH-398 12.0oz ? Ericsson DH198 11.6oz ? GE DT-400 11.6oz ? Hughes P8100 11.6oz $995 Motorola Mic Dig Lt 7.9oz ? Nokia 2120 8.3oz $899 Qualcomm CD-7000 12.2oz ? Technophone TD815 8.3oz $899 The prices are MSRP. I got my Nokia 2120 for < $400 from Cellular World 800-TALK-NOW I have no connection with any of the above. I state where I got my phone from, how much, and the telephone number only to prevent people from emailing me with such questions. I mention Cellular World because if you call them, they will assist you. They are not always the least expensive. (Hughes M6100 cell world=$350, cell one washington dc = $275) Mark Solsman Building 1, Code 5160 United States Naval Research Laboratory solsman@ra.nrl.navy.mil Washington, DC (202) 767-5769 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 00:44:10 PDT From: Steve Edwards Reply-To: Steve Edwards Subject: Distance Between Two Points One of my current projects involves calculating the distance between two points on the Earth (or at least within the continental United States). My initial thought was to use the V & H data from the telco. I discussed this with a friend who knows more than I. He says that the V & H tapes give the coordinates of "rate centers" which would not give me the resolution that I need. I need to tell the distance between a subscriber and the local doctors and hospitals. Thus, I need accuracy down to a very small number (like one mile). I've got the TIGER database from the US Post Office. This tells me the longitude and latitude of a single ZIP+4 delivery point. Thus, I should be able to tell the distance between you and your neighbor (assuming I have ZIP+4 for both of you). My problem is that I need the algorithm to calculate the distance between two points given the longitude and latitude of the points. I've exhausted my library and that of the local bookstores. I think it involves something called "great circle navigation" and can be simplified by converting the longitude and latitude into radians. Any clues would be greatly appreciated. Email would be preferred since it cuts a day off your reply. Thanks in advance, Steve Edwards Internet: steve@newline.com Voice: +1-619-723- 2727 Newline CompuServe: 73677,3561 Fax: +1-619-731- 3000 ------------------------------ Subject: Telrad Key-BX From: drharry!aboritz@uunet.uu.net (Alan Boritz) Reply-To: uunet!drharry!aboritz@uunet.uu.net (Alan Boritz) Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 07:08:13 EDT Organization: Harry's Place - Mahwah NJ - +1 201 934 0861 Would anyone be familiar with this dinosaur? Would anyone be familiar with what kind of maintenance port it has and how to program it? Better yet, would anyone have programming documentation and/or instruments with which they might want to part? aboritz%drharry@uunet.uu.net or uunet!drharry!aboritz Harry's Place (drharry.UUCP) - Mahwah NJ USA - +1-201-934-0861 ------------------------------ Date: 28 Sep 1994 07:42:07 EDT From: McRae, Stuart Subject: Fax DID Technologies - What is E&M I am researching technologies to allow DID use with the Fax Modems we currently use for inbound fax routing. One solution I have founded uses an interface called "E&M" which is available on some PABXs. It appears to be some sort of variation of the DID protocol used for telco lines. Can someone explain what the E&M interface is, who defines it, where I can get the definition, and how it works? Also, our fax modems can support "DTMF" routing. Ascom in the UK recently announced a FaxRouter which uses a basic rate ISDN connection to the telco and an analog connection to two fax modems using DTMF. This allows us to use our current fax modems for inbound routing (or any other modems that support DTMF). Are there any other products which will do this? Do any PABXs have the capability to generate DTMF in this way? Are there any vendors offering other DID solutions (anywhere worldwide, PABX based or stand alone) which will connect to a fax modem supporting DTMF? Thanks, Stuart McRae Lotus Development ------------------------------ From: swhlill@slvaxa.umsl.edu (Walt Lillyman) Subject: Ameritech to Offer SLIP, PPP; What's Their Correct WWW? Date: 28 Sep 1994 14:05:22 GMT Organization: University of Missouri-St. Louis, Continuing Ed., Microcomputers Iparaphrase from {PC Week}, 9/26/94, page 59: Ameritech of Chicago (one of Illinois' telephone providers) is offering Internet access sevices including SLIP, PPP and ISDN to corporate customers. They'll eventually offer these to individual customers. Individual SLIP/PPP access "will cost $20 to $30". The article gives Ameritech's WWW server address: http://www.qads.net I can't connect to this site. DNS can't resolve the address. Does anyone know the correct WWW server address for Ameritech? Thanks, Walt Lillyman, swhlill@slvaxa.umsl.edu University of Missouri, St. Louis College of Arts & Sciences, Continuing Education-Extension: Microcomputers ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 18:12:02 EDT From: Bob Keller Subject: FCC Reort on LD Carrier Code Assignments FCC RELEASES REPORT ON LONG DISTANCE CARRIERS AND THEIR CODE ASSIGNMENTS The FCC has released the latest available data on the number of long distance carriers offering equal access to the public and the geographic areas they serve. Also included in this report is information on Carrier Identification Codes, 900 service, and 800 service. In addition, the report contains data on the number of Carrier Identification Codes assigned, a list of companies with codes, and their respective code assignments. The report shows the number of 900 codes assigned by Bell Communications Research and the carrier holding each code as of June 30, 1994. Similar information is shown for 800 service as of April 30, 1993, just before 800 portability. The report is available for reference in the Industry Analysis Division Reference Room, Common Carrier Bureau, 1250 23rd Street N.W., Plaza Level. Copies may be purchased by calling International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS, Inc.) at (202) 857-3800. The report can also be downloaded from the FCC- State Link computer bulletin board at (202) 632-1361. For further information, contact Katie Rangos (202) 418-0954. Robert J. Keller, P.C. (Federal Telecommunications Law) Tel: 301-229-5208 Fax: 301-229-6875 4200 Wisconsin Ave NW #106-261 Washington DC 20016-2146 finger me for info on F.C.C. Daily Digests and Releases ------------------------------ From: cmwolf@cs.mtu.edu (Wolf) Subject: ATM OC Specifications Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 19:21:47 EDT Reply-To: cmwolf@cs.mtu.edu Could you or any of your readers point me to or give me information about the OC-XX data transfer rates for ATM? I'm looking for the technical specification of how OC-XX is accomplished on a particular line. Christopher Wolf, consumer of time, occupier of space. ------------------------------ From: stevenf624@aol.com (StevenF624) Subject: New 800 Services Date: 27 Sep 1994 21:09:01 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Arch Telecom adds new "Dealer Locater" and "Fax-on-Demand" service to it's feature rich 800 service. Call their demo FOD line @ 1.800.882.1826 and reqest documents: Dealer Locater Doc# 6064 Fax-on-Demand Doc# 6061 All features Doc# 6065 Steve Friedlander 1.800.ARCHTEL [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes indeed, Arch is another good one where enhanced 800 service is concerned. Unlike years ago when all you could get in the way of 800 service was a dedicated line terminated at your premises with an 800 number (and that still seems to be all the big three carriers offer for service), now all kinds of variations are available, including having your 800 number forwarded to you wherever you are at, and other services such as Steve describes in this message. If you don't yet have an 800 number, or are using one of the old, plain types from AT&T, Sprint or MCI, I strongly recommend you check out Arch or one of the other newer and smaller players. Their rates are quite competitive. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #380 ****************************