TELECOM Digest Wed, 12 Oct 94 11:39:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 394 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Summit '94: Technical Sessions (summit@ix.netcom.com) 25 Years of Call Waiting (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Class Use of Telephone (Stuart Whitmore) UNC-CH Faculty Position Available (Scott Barker) 900 MHz Cordless Phone Evaluations (Chris Campbell) NANP Nightmare (The Boston Globe via Van Hefner) Book Review: "The RS-232 Solution" by Campbell (Rob Slade) Request: New UK Dialing Codes (Adam Ashby) GSM SIM Card: Different? (Anto Daryanto) 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: summit@ix.netcom.com (Summit '94) Subject: Summit '94: Technical Sessions Date: 12 Oct 1994 05:14:54 GMT Organization: Netcom (T9) Managing High Speed Networks Abstract: Broadband networking services are arriving rapidly. Managing intelligent, flexible, high-speed networks demands new management approaches. This half-day tutorial offers a unique combination of a tutorial and a panel with leading vendors to give you their perspective on their management offerings. Areas covered include * High-speed networks:SMDS, Frame Relay, BISDN, ATM * Management Challenges, Problems, and Solutions Switched connections vs. datagrams Connection management systems Emerging virtualization Application management * Customer Network Management:Rationale, Architecture, Functions, ATM, Frame Relay,SMDS, BISDN * Panel Discussion: How to Deploy a Manageable High Speed Network Instructor: John McConnell, McConnell Consulting, Inc. (S4) Expanding Your WAN: Strategies for Cost-Effective WAN Expansion Abstract: Wide area networks with inherent growth demands, whether consistent or in spurts,present unique challenges to the network designer. When adding new locations to a network, the network designer must add them somewhat in their order of arrival. However, if the new locations can be grouped, the designer can achieve certain network efficiencies because of greater optimization opportunities. This session shows you the costs of different approaches. Presenter: Gary Schilling, Quintessential Solutions (S7) Integrating the Workgroup and the Enterprise Abstract: This session illustrates ways to provide enterprise management capabilities for large centralized mainframe environments, WAN/LAN management, and emerging workgroup, branch office, home, and mobile computing environments. Topics covered include: Enterprise Management Consoles, Infrastructure Management Frameworks, Network and Systems Management Platforms, LAN Management Platforms, Network Utilities, Network and System Management Services. Presenter: Chris Thomas, Intel Corporation (S9) Defining Response Time Service Levels on Inter-Networked LANs and WANs Abstract: In the "old" environments (single architectures and protocols) you could monitor the performance of network devices as well as the response time "service levels" that your users were receiving. However, performance management tools in "new" multiprotocol, multi-vendor internetworks are limited to simply managing devices not service levels. This lack of service level data can cause peculiar and embarrassing problems for the IS manager. This session shows how to develop a rich database of users' response time data that will provide strategic information for network designers. Presenter: Warren Sullivan, Network Telemetrics (S17) Panel: Building and Managing Virtual Networks Abstract: In an increasingly mobile world, managing change has become one of the biggest administration headaches in a network. The evolution of switched LANs, TCP/IP, and management tools have opened up the opportunity to integrate these technologies to build a network that will dynamically adapt to network, applications and end-user changes and demands. This session explores how to: unleash a new level of power and flexibility through virtual networking; design and manage virtual networks; dramatically reduce the cost of moves/adds/changes; and reconfigure LANs through software control. Moderator: Frank Hiatt, Chipcom Corporation Panelists: David Fowler, FTP Software; Asheem Chandna, Synoptics (S24) What the Heck Is a Protocol Analyzer Good for Anyway? Abstract: As corporate networks continue to expand, distributed analyzers will play a key role in monitoring network utilization, traffic flow, and security across multiple subnets. This session shows how network analyzers can isolate low level problems such as errors due to faulty cable plant, packet congestion, jabbering repeaters, malformed packets, as well as higher level problems such as peer-to-peer or client/server networking software, host configuration errors, traffic latency and timeout settings, and routing errors. Presenter: Jeanne Abmayr, FTP Software ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 02:02:42 -0400 From: marya@titan.ucs.umass.edu (jwm) Subject: 25 Years of Call Waiting Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst Here's the text of a little card that I got in the mail from NYNEX: [front] Millions of people have already ordered Call Waiting. Here's the reason you should order yours today ... [cartoon of an airplane carrying a banner stating: FREE INSTALLATION UNTIL OCTOBER 31, 1994] [back] Discover why Call Waiting has been our most popular service for more than 25 years. A long-distance friend, an important business associate or a family member during an emergency ... you wouldn't want any of these people to be stranded listening to a busy signal. For 25 years, NYNEX has helped millions of people find the solution: Call Waiting. Conversations with our customers have shown that most people don't mind being put on hold. In fact, they see an advantage in being able to get through to you when you're already on the phone with someone else. Call Waiting costs just $2.58 a month. And until October 31st we're offering FREE installation. (You'll save $7.60!) So, don't let anyone you care about ever feel stranded again. Call and order today! 1-800-499-5200, Ext. 345, Mon. through Fri., 7 am - 9 pm; Saturday, 9 am - 3 pm. NYNEX NYNEX Recycles [end of card] 1) I wasn't aware that NYNEX did much of anything before 1984. (O.K. So I'm nitpicking.) 2) I have an ad around here someplace from a 1967 National Geographic, in which the Bell System promises a bold new future that includes all of the custom calling features (call waiting, 3-way calling, speed calling, and call forwarding). Were these features really deployed as early as 1969? What switches at the time supported them? Did anyone out there have Call Waiting from New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. in 1969? 3) Nice spin on the people-love-to-hold thing. Most people I know hate to be on hold, but they figure that the benefit of getting through outweighs the evil of holding. 4) I have three lines. Two of them have call waiting. This was sent to the billing address of one of those two lines. Using recycled paper is lovely, but if it serves no useful purpose it's still a waste. Perhaps they should cross-reference their marketing databases with their billing databases to save a recycled tree. 5) I always feel silly when I call a company, and they ask for an "extension." We all know that there is no need to transfer the call, but I've run into cases where the rep was frozen in his/her tracks when I couldn't come up with a pseudo-extension number for the record. If they must track their advertising, why not use multiple 800 numbers, as the LD companies do in their TV ads? Jeffrey W. McKeough marya@titan.ucs.umass.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The earliest electronic switching system installations were in 1968-69. It was installed somewhere in New Jersey but the one I specifically recall was the initial test site in my part of the country, in Morris, Illinois. The near north side neighborhood in Chicago has ESS/Custom Calling features available in 1972, and the downtown Chicago area had them available in 1973. At the time, my office downtown was served by a very old panel office, or maybe it was a stepping switch dating from the 1920's on the WEbster-9 exchange. I knew a couple of people who had custom calling features in 1972 but can't think of anyone before that. I had the features put on my phone once they became available in 1973 (maybe 1974?). PAT] ------------------------------ From: stuart.whitmore@uninova.com (Stuart Whitmore) Subject: Class Use of Telephone Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 05:20:59 GMT Organization: UniNova Sup't BBS (509)925-3893 I had an interesting experience the other day in one of my classes here at Central Washington University, and I figured others might also find it noteworthy. One of my professors brought into class one of those conference telephones like you find in the Hello Direct catalog (in fact, that might be where he got it, I don't know), and the whole class made a call to a retired person who could speak as an authority on the class topic. I've never had a telephone used in a class like that before, but now I think it's a great idea. Students were able to get the benefit of having a guest speaker without having him travel several hours just to get to the CWU campus. We generated some questions before calling, so we didn't waste any long distance time, and it was a good experience. I don't know how many teachers read the TELECOM Digest, but I recommend this kind of experience for students. It sure beats the old overhead projector! My prof mentioned that we'd be making more calls later in the quarter, so he's apparently integrated it into his teaching beyond just testing it out. Anyway, I just figured it was an unusual use of telephones that was worth sharing here. Stuart Whitmore (stuart.whitmore@uninova.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It certainly sounds like a great idea for a presentation to a class; having authorities meet with the class via speakerphone. PAT] ------------------------------ From: scott@ils.unc.edu (Scott Barker) Subject: UNC-CH Faculty Position Available Date: 12 Oct 1994 14:31:39 GMT Organization: Univ. of North Carolina, Information/Library Science The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announces a tenure- track position (assistant/associate professor) in the School of Information and Library Science. The School seeks applications from scholars whose research and teaching interests address telecommunications and networking, and/or multimedia/hypermedia systems. Faculty members are expected to engage in research and to report new insights through publication and teaching. Faculty members also advise masters and doctoral students and serve on School and University committees. Minimum qualifications include an earned doctorate by the starting date, a research agenda, and evidence of teaching competence. Minimum salary is $40,000 for assistant; $45,000 for associate. The review process will begin Jan. 15, 1995; preliminary interviews are planned for the following conferences: ASIS (Alexandria, VA, October 1994); ALISE (Philadelphia, February 1995); and ACM Computer Science Conference (Nashville, TN, February 1995). Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Preferred starting date is August 1995. Send letter of application, resume, and names of three references to: Barbara M. Wildemuth, Chair, Faculty Search Committee School of Information and Library Science CB # 3360, 100 Manning Hall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360 Phone: 919-962-8366; Fax: 919-962-8071 email: wildem@ils.unc.edu The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. ------------------------------ From: dsrekcc@prism.gatech.edu (Chris Campbell) Subject: 900 MHz Cordless Phone Evaluations Date: 11 Oct 1994 01:08:58 -0400 Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology About a month ago I put out a call on the net for your comments and experiences with 900 MHz cordless phones. The following is what I finally distilled out of those responses. Note that these are actual experiences, not rumor or manafacturer's claims (nor mine). If your phone does not exhibit the performance problem indicated here, well, great. Below is a table of some basic performance comments, followed by more lengthy comments on each model. I received over 2000 lines of comments, and have edited that down to 1200+ lines (~60K). Since posting those comments would be an ENORMOUS waste of bandwidth, I will e-mail a copy of that file to whoever really wants it. If you have comments about your experiences with your phone, e-mail me and I will include it in the final draft of this. I am of course interested in data that is absent in the table below (e.g. Uniden duration). Please don't e-mail just to "ditto" comments made here. Thanks. Talk Handset MODEL #R SS Sound Quality Range (ft) Duration Size AT&T 9100/9120 5 Yes hissy, tinny "Good" Wide BEL 900 1 No crystal clear "1 block" Escort 9000/9020 4 Yes good, crappy 2.0 hrs Panas. 9000/9220 6 No excellent "few 100" 0.5 hrs Flip Sony SPP-ER1 1 No Big Tropez 900 DL/DX 15 No* noisy, artifacts 300-1000 1.5 hrs Difficult Uniden 9100/9200 13 Yes good but echo 500 Good #R : Number of responses I got about this phone SS : Spread spectrum encoded - This means that you're not broadcasting your voice across the neighborhood, for all scanners to hear. While a few people might be able to decipher it now, and some scanners may do it in the future, you are at least secure from 95% of the "snoopers" out there. Me included. If it's not SS, then you can pick it up with a simple scanner. COMMENTS: AT&T - 9120 is a speakerphone - AT&T phone is OEM'd from VTech, the company that makes the Tropez. The ergonomics are better, but the performance is about the same. Escort - The "good, crappy" comment in the table means I got conflicting responses. Panasonic - Flip-phone style - Dual batteries; extra battery does NOT power base in power outage. Tropez Note: while many people disliked the Tropez, some vehemently, I should say that I received a few responses defending it. - 900 DX is a speakerphone - Range is apparently very good, at 1000 feet or more. - The Tropez models are NOT spread spectrum. They use a single channel 16 kHz PCM signal about 100 kHz wide. While this means that Joe Scanner can't pick up an easy FM signal, it also means that it is not quite the level of security offered by spread spectrum. The digitized audio is apparently coded to a random, shifting key (64K combinations), so interception is still unlikely. On a plain scanner, your voice is indeed unrecognizable (digital). - It has been reported that clear audio (FM) leaks at around 430 MHz. Uniden - 9200 is two-line speakerphone with ability to charge extra battery. Extra battery WILL power base in power outage. - Almost everyone liked their Uniden, except for the echo. The echo (and some said clipping and distortion) appears only in your earpiece; the other person can't hear it, although you may find it very irritating. Miscellaneous - Radio Shack and NorthWestern Bell models are possibly OEM'd, but I have conflicting information on that. They are apparently not spread spectrum, but just broadcast your audio in the clear (FM). - Motorola makes a 49 MHz cordless phone that reverses the audio into something unrecognizable on scanner. There's one of these in my neighborhood; a plain scanner won't work on it, but it is pretty simple to build a circuit to un-reverse the audio (see rec.radio.scanner). The Motorola 49 Mhz apparently goes for around $400. - From the FAF - Frequently Asked Frequencies file on oak.oakland.edu - Panasonic KX-T9000 base 902.100-903.870 { 60 channels handset 926.100-927.870 { 30 kHz spacing VTech Tropez 900DX base 905.600-907.500 { 20 channels (digital) handset 925.500-927.400 {100 kHz spacing AT&T #9120 902.0-905.0 / 925.0-928.0 } OTRON CORP. #CP-1000 902.1-903.9 / 926.1-927.9 } unconfirmed SAMSUNG #SP-R912 903.0 / 927.0 } Chris Campbell dsrekcc@prism.gatech.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Oct 94 00:20:54 PDT Reply-To: vantek@sequoia.northcoast.com (Van Hefner) From: vantek@sequoia.northcoast.com (Van Hefner) Subject: NANP Nightmare Boston Business Misses Phone Calls Due to Bungled Exchange By Alex Pham, {The Boston Globe} Oct. 8 -- Lori Moretti lives to hear the phone ring. But since she recently moved her public relations firm to its new Boston locale near Fort Point Channel, the lines have been unusually quiet. The six-member crew of her firm, CM Communications, weren't used to sitting through long stretches of silence. First they blamed the weather, then the economy, then the time of year. Eventually they found out why. Few businesses they dealt with were able to dial the company's new exchange (the first three digits of their telephone number). "We kept getting complaints that people couldn't reach us," Moretti said. "They had to get an operator to reach us. So we called Nynex, and they told us that it was because our phone number was a new exchange." Many of the high-tech phone systems at area companies, including some that CM said were vital to its business such as the Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe and the Hynes Convention Center, simply didn't recognize the new 946 exchange as a valid number. "That was ridiculous," moaned Moretti. "Here we are, a public relations firm, and two of the city's biggest newspapers couldn't call us." She and her business partner, Michael Caglianone, gave Nynex an earful. But the phone company insisted that the number was a "viable exchange." "Well, bottom line is it hasn't been a viable exchange for our business," said Moretti, who estimates it would cost more than $5,000 to switch back to an established exchange when the cost of reprinting stationary, business cards and adress notifications are included. "To this day, I lie awake at night wondering what calls we've never gotten. How many businesses are out there with that exchange? Are they not getting calls, too?" Nynex officials concede there have been some problems with the new exchange but contend most businesses were not adversely affected. They said CM and other companies with the new exchange really didn't miss that many calls and the problems have been corrected. The phone company said that 4,000 of its customers were recently issued the new 946 exchange. Whenever a new exchange is created, residential customers and businesses that use Nynex phone equipment are automatically programmed to recognize the new numbers. But businesses that don't use Nynex equipment must individually program their machines to accept the new exchanges. Should human error cause an exchange to be missed, calls to that exchange will not connect. Oddly enough, technological progress may be the root of the problem. Because of the explosion of pagers, FAX machines, cellular phones, modems and online services, Nynex is being flooded with unprecedented demand for new numbers. There are 12.1 million phone numbers in use in Massachusetts, a 2.5 percent increase in the last quarter alone, said Susan Butta, a Nynex spokeswoman. That means one to two new exchanges must be added within the 617 and 508 area code each month to handle the new numbers. The demand for new numbers has also led Nynex to introduce an added layer of complexity. Beginning next Saturday, callers making a toll call within their area code must dial 1, the area code, then the seven-digit phone number. Thus, a caller in Boston must dial 617 first when they call Woburn, even though Woburn is still within the 617 area code. Now callers just dial 1 plus the phone number. Confusing? "The irony in all this was that Nynex went out of its way to give us a number that was easy to remember and easy to dial," Moretti said. Van Hefner * VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS * Eureka, California * [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: NYNEX cannot really be blamed because the proprietors of some private phone systems at large companies, universities, etc are klutzes. People wanted a telephone network where everyone did thier own thing, so that's what they got now over ten years ago. I used to work for a large department store downtown on a part time basis trying to straighten out the mess that predecessors had made of the Rolm PBX there. It was a mess! There were lots of exchanges they could not dial. The fact that the situation described in this newspaper account is quite common when new exchanges are cut in is not the fault of telco. If you want to run a PBX or a large private phone service, then you either know what you are doing or step out of the way and let someone else do it. Oh, I suppose it is easier to just ignore complaints and treat the users like ignoramuses and crackpots. Sometimes the telcos do not communicate with each other as they should though ... a case about five years ago involved a new exchange cut in by a telco in Wisconsin. Illinois Bell did not have it in their tables for several months afterward, and no amount of talking could get anyone at IBT to listen. Finally someone at AT&T twisted their arm, and found someone at IBT who understood what was wrong. So yes, it can be telco's fault where other telco's are concerned. I would not be surprised if there are people in other parts of the USA who are unable to get the 946 prefix discussed simply because their telco was not up to date. But still, where local service is concerned, the guys who run the private phone systems are the ones who need to get their act together. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 00:41:38 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The RS-232 Solution" by Campbell BKRS2SOL.RVW 940811 Sybex Computer Books 2021 Challenger Drive Alameda, CA 94501 USA 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 or Firefly Books 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313 "The RS-232 Solution", Campbell, 1989, 0-89588-488-7, U$24.95/C$32.95 Most computer users, even those dealing with communications and modems, will not have to deal with the intricacies of the RS-232 (or EIA-232E) interface standard for serial communications. You buy a cable, plug in the modem, and that's the end of it. For those who do want to know more, this book is fascinating -- as well as being completely accessible for the non-technical reader. Part one deals with the interface, reasons for an interface standard, and the general concepts and tools needed to attack an interface problem. Part two is primarily a series of "case studies" and specialized examples. Interestingly, Campbell nowhere gives a full listing of the RS-232 pin assignments, concentrating on the "Big Eight" which do form the foundation of almost all serial communications. The chapter on the Mac is most interesting -- the Mac does not have an RS-232 port, relying instead on a subset of the EIA-422 standard. Some notes are odd, however. The juxtaposition of a marginal note complaining about the IBM PC asynchronous (serial) port is placed, without comment, next to a discussion of male and female connector assignments. Read carefully, it indicates that IBM was right, but it may confuse some readers. Those who want the full technical details of the interface specification will have to get them elsewhere. Few will want as much detail on printers as is given here. For those hobbyists truly interested in the interface, this is an intriguing, and potentially quite useful, source. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKRS2SOL.RVW 940811. 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 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 10:49:00 +0100 From: adam ashby Subject: Request: New UK Dialing Codes The new UK dialing codes (prefixing all current codes with 1, plus a couple of entirely new codes) are now in operation and have been since August 1st. I was wondering if anyone has yet updated the UK area codes and made them available. The archives have the old codes, but with reference to the new codes. I could easily edit the old file - just wondering if anyone else had already done it. As a related aside -- all NT DMS switches in the UK were ready for the new codes before August 1st. And another one - OfTel (the regulatory body) is currently discussing a new (proposed) numbering plan for the UK :- 00 - International (current) 01 - PSTN (current) 02 - possible netowrk expansion (new) 03 - New mobile allocations (new) 04 - New mobile allocations (new) 05 - FreePhone numbers (new) 06 - FreePhone numbers (new) 07 - Personal numbers (new) - what are those??? 08 - Premium rate (new) 09 - Premium rate (new) Adam Ashby | 1560442@bnr.ca | BNR Europe Ltd. +44 1628 794622 | FAX | Maidenhead, ESN 590 4622 | +44 1628 794381 | England, SL6 4AG ------------------------------ From: anto@anggrek.inn.bppt.go.id (Anto Daryanto) Subject: GSM SIM Card: Different? Date: 11 Oct 1994 20:37:11 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Hi, I just talked to the Motorola GSM handphone provider in Jakarta (PT Satelindo) about their new service offering, GSM network in Jakarta. They said that to be able to use their handphone (Motorola 5200 and 7200) you have to use SIM card, OK, it's all right. But then they said that their SIM card can not be used in other handphone, such as Phillips, as they informed me. Is this true? As I understand, with only one SIM card you can use any GSM handphone in any country (of course as long as the countries have roaming agreement). Antonius Daryanto | Direktorat TEI a.daryanto@inn.bppt.go.id | BPPT Teknologi | Jakarta, INDONESIA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #394 **************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 10-12-94 Msg # 579487 From: TELECOM Digest (Patrick Conf: (700) email To: ELIOT GELWAN Stat: Private Subj: TELECOM Digest V14 #394 Read: No ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) TELECOM Digest Wed, 12 Oct 94 11:39:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 394 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Summit '94: Technical Sessions (summit@ix.netcom.com) 25 Years of Call Waiting (Jeffrey W. McKeough) Class Use of Telephone (Stuart Whitmore) UNC-CH Faculty Position Available (Scott Barker) 900 MHz Cordless Phone Evaluations (Chris Campbell) NANP Nightmare (The Boston Globe via Van Hefner) Book Review: "The RS-232 Solution" by Campbell (Rob Slade) Request: New UK Dialing Codes (Adam Ashby) GSM SIM Card: Different? (Anto Daryanto) 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: summit@ix.netcom.com (Summit '94) Subject: Summit '94: Technical Sessions Date: 12 Oct 1994 05:14:54 GMT Organization: Netcom (T9) Managing High Speed Networks Abstract: Broadband networking services are arriving rapidly. Managing intelligent, flexible, high-speed networks demands new management approaches. This half-day tutorial offers a unique combination of a tutorial and a panel with leading vendors to give you their perspective on their management offerings. Areas covered include * High-speed networks:SMDS, Frame Relay, BISDN, ATM * Management Challenges, Problems, and Solutions Switched connections vs. datagrams Connection management systems Emerging virtualization Application management * Customer Network Management:Rationale, Architecture, Functions, ATM, Frame Relay,SMDS, BISDN * Panel Discussion: How to Deploy a Manageable High Speed Network Instructor: John McConnell, McConnell Consulting, Inc. (S4) Expanding Your WAN: Strategies for Cost-Effective WAN Expansion Abstract: Wide area networks with inherent growth demands, whether consistent or in spurts,present unique challenges to the network designer. When adding new locations to a network, the network designer must add them somewhat in their order of arrival. However, if the new locations can be grouped, the designer can achieve certain network efficiencies because of greater optimization opportunities. This session shows you the costs of different approaches. Presenter: Gary Schilling, Quintessential Solutions (S7) Integrating the Workgroup and the Enterprise Abstract: This session illustrates ways to provide enterprise management capabilities for large centralized mainframe environments, WAN/LAN management, and emerging workgroup, branch office, home, and mobile computing environments. Topics covered include: Enterprise Management Consoles, Infrastructure Management Frameworks, Network and Systems Management Platforms, LAN Management Platforms, Network Utilities, Network and System Management Services. Presenter: Chris Thomas, Intel Corporation (S9) Defining Response Time Service Levels on Inter-Networked LANs and WANs Abstract: In the "old" environments (single architectures and protocols) you could monitor the performance of network devices as well as the response time "service levels" that your users were receiving. However, performance management tools in "new" multiprotocol, multi-vendor internetworks are limited to simply managing devices not service levels. This lack of service level data can cause peculiar and embarrassing problems for the IS manager. This session shows how to develop a rich database of users' response time data that will provide strategic information for network designers. Presenter: Warren Sullivan, Network Telemetrics (S17) Panel: Building and Managing Virtual Networks Abstract: In an increasingly mobile world, managing change has become one of the biggest administration headaches in a network. The evolution of switched LANs, TCP/IP, and management tools have opened up the opportunity to integrate these technologies to build a network that will dynamically adapt to network, applications and end-user changes and demands. This session explores how to: unleash a new level of power and flexibility through virtual networking; design and manage virtual networks; dramatically reduce the cost of moves/adds/changes; and reconfigure LANs through software control. Moderator: Frank Hiatt, Chipcom Corporation Panelists: David Fowler, FTP Software; Asheem Chandna, Synoptics (S24) What the Heck Is a Protocol Analyzer Good for Anyway? Abstract: As corporate networks continue to expand, distributed analyzers will play a key role in monitoring network utilization, traffic flow, and security across multiple subnets. This session shows how network analyzers can isolate low level problems such as errors due to faulty cable plant, packet congestion, jabbering repeaters, malformed packets, as well as higher level problems such as peer-to-peer or client/server networking software, host configuration errors, traffic latency and timeout settings, and routing errors. Presenter: Jeanne Abmayr, FTP Software ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 02:02:42 -0400 From: marya@titan.ucs.umass.edu (jwm) Subject: 25 Years of Call Waiting Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst Here's the text of a little card that I got in the mail from NYNEX: [front] Millions of people have already ordered Call Waiting. Here's the reason you should order yours today ... [cartoon of an airplane carrying a banner stating: FREE INSTALLATION UNTIL OCTOBER 31, 1994] [back] Discover why Call Waiting has been our most popular service for more than 25 years. A long-distance friend, an important business associate or a family member during an emergency ... you wouldn't want any of these people to be stranded listening to a busy signal. For 25 years, NYNEX has helped millions of people find the solution: Call Waiting. Conversations with our customers have shown that most people don't mind being put on hold. In fact, they see an advantage in being able to get through to you when you're already on the phone with someone else. Call Waiting costs just $2.58 a month. And until October 31st we're offering FREE installation. (You'll save $7.60!) So, don't let anyone you care about ever feel stranded again. Call and order today! 1-800-499-5200, Ext. 345, Mon. through Fri., 7 am - 9 pm; Saturday, 9 am - 3 pm. NYNEX NYNEX Recycles [end of card] 1) I wasn't aware that NYNEX did much of anything before 1984. (O.K. So I'm nitpicking.) 2) I have an ad around here someplace from a 1967 National Geographic, in which the Bell System promises a bold new future that includes all of the custom calling features (call waiting, 3-way calling, speed calling, and call forwarding). Were these features really deployed as early as 1969? What switches at the time supported them? Did anyone out there have Call Waiting from New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. in 1969? 3) Nice spin on the people-love-to-hold thing. Most people I know hate to be on hold, but they figure that the benefit of getting through outweighs the evil of holding. 4) I have three lines. Two of them have call waiting. This was sent to the billing address of one of those two lines. Using recycled paper is lovely, but if it serves no useful purpose it's still a waste. Perhaps they should cross-reference their marketing databases with their billing databases to save a recycled tree. 5) I always feel silly when I call a company, and they ask for an "extension." We all know that there is no need to transfer the call, but I've run into cases where the rep was frozen in his/her tracks when I couldn't come up with a pseudo-extension number for the record. If they must track their advertising, why not use multiple 800 numbers, as the LD companies do in their TV ads? Jeffrey W. McKeough marya@titan.ucs.umass.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The earliest electronic switching system installations were in 1968-69. It was installed somewhere in New Jersey but the one I specifically recall was the initial test site in my part of the country, in Morris, Illinois. The near north side neighborhood in Chicago has ESS/Custom Calling features available in 1972, and the downtown Chicago area had them available in 1973. At the time, my office downtown was served by a very old panel office, or maybe it was a stepping switch dating from the 1920's on the WEbster-9 exchange. I knew a couple of people who had custom calling features in 1972 but can't think of anyone before that. I had the features put on my phone once they became available in 1973 (maybe 1974?). PAT] ------------------------------ From: stuart.whitmore@uninova.com (Stuart Whitmore) Subject: Class Use of Telephone Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 05:20:59 GMT Organization: UniNova Sup't BBS (509)925-3893 I had an interesting experience the other day in one of my classes here at Central Washington University, and I figured others might also find it noteworthy. One of my professors brought into class one of those conference telephones like you find in the Hello Direct catalog (in fact, that might be where he got it, I don't know), and the whole class made a call to a retired person who could speak as an authority on the class topic. I've never had a telephone used in a class like that before, but now I think it's a great idea. Students were able to get the benefit of having a guest speaker without having him travel several hours just to get to the CWU campus. We generated some questions before calling, so we didn't waste any long distance time, and it was a good experience. I don't know how many teachers read the TELECOM Digest, but I recommend this kind of experience for students. It sure beats the old overhead projector! My prof mentioned that we'd be making more calls later in the quarter, so he's apparently integrated it into his teaching beyond just testing it out. Anyway, I just figured it was an unusual use of telephones that was worth sharing here. Stuart Whitmore (stuart.whitmore@uninova.com) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It certainly sounds like a great idea for a presentation to a class; having authorities meet with the class via speakerphone. PAT] ------------------------------ From: scott@ils.unc.edu (Scott Barker) Subject: UNC-CH Faculty Position Available Date: 12 Oct 1994 14:31:39 GMT Organization: Univ. of North Carolina, Information/Library Science The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announces a tenure- track position (assistant/associate professor) in the School of Information and Library Science. The School seeks applications from scholars whose research and teaching interests address telecommunications and networking, and/or multimedia/hypermedia systems. Faculty members are expected to engage in research and to report new insights through publication and teaching. Faculty members also advise masters and doctoral students and serve on School and University committees. Minimum qualifications include an earned doctorate by the starting date, a research agenda, and evidence of teaching competence. Minimum salary is $40,000 for assistant; $45,000 for associate. The review process will begin Jan. 15, 1995; preliminary interviews are planned for the following conferences: ASIS (Alexandria, VA, October 1994); ALISE (Philadelphia, February 1995); and ACM Computer Science Conference (Nashville, TN, February 1995). Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Preferred starting date is August 1995. Send letter of application, resume, and names of three references to: Barbara M. Wildemuth, Chair, Faculty Search Committee School of Information and Library Science CB # 3360, 100 Manning Hall University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360 Phone: 919-962-8366; Fax: 919-962-8071 email: wildem@ils.unc.edu The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. ------------------------------ From: dsrekcc@prism.gatech.edu (Chris Campbell) Subject: 900 MHz Cordless Phone Evaluations Date: 11 Oct 1994 01:08:58 -0400 Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology About a month ago I put out a call on the net for your comments and experiences with 900 MHz cordless phones. The following is what I finally distilled out of those responses. Note that these are actual experiences, not rumor or manafacturer's claims (nor mine). If your phone does not exhibit the performance problem indicated here, well, great. Below is a table of some basic performance comments, followed by more lengthy comments on each model. I received over 2000 lines of comments, and have edited that down to 1200+ lines (~60K). Since posting those comments would be an ENORMOUS waste of bandwidth, I will e-mail a copy of that file to whoever really wants it. If you have comments about your experiences with your phone, e-mail me and I will include it in the final draft of this. I am of course interested in data that is absent in the table below (e.g. Uniden duration). Please don't e-mail just to "ditto" comments made here. Thanks. Talk Handset MODEL #R SS Sound Quality Range (ft) Duration Size AT&T 9100/9120 5 Yes hissy, tinny "Good" Wide BEL 900 1 No crystal clear "1 block" Escort 9000/9020 4 Yes good, crappy 2.0 hrs Panas. 9000/9220 6 No excellent "few 100" 0.5 hrs Flip Sony SPP-ER1 1 No Big Tropez 900 DL/DX 15 No* noisy, artifacts 300-1000 1.5 hrs Difficult Uniden 9100/9200 13 Yes good but echo 500 Good #R : Number of responses I got about this phone SS : Spread spectrum encoded - This means that you're not broadcasting your voice across the neighborhood, for all scanners to hear. While a few people might be able to decipher it now, and some scanners may do it in the future, you are at least secure from 95% of the "snoopers" out there. Me included. If it's not SS, then you can pick it up with a simple scanner. COMMENTS: AT&T - 9120 is a speakerphone - AT&T phone is OEM'd from VTech, the company that makes the Tropez. The ergonomics are better, but the performance is about the same. Escort - The "good, crappy" comment in the table means I got conflicting responses. Panasonic - Flip-phone style - Dual batteries; extra battery does NOT power base in power outage. Tropez Note: while many people disliked the Tropez, some vehemently, I should say that I received a few responses defending it. - 900 DX is a speakerphone - Range is apparently very good, at 1000 feet or more. - The Tropez models are NOT spread spectrum. They use a single channel 16 kHz PCM signal about 100 kHz wide. While this means that Joe Scanner can't pick up an easy FM signal, it also means that it is not quite the level of security offered by spread spectrum. The digitized audio is apparently coded to a random, shifting key (64K combinations), so interception is still unlikely. On a plain scanner, your voice is indeed unrecognizable (digital). - It has been reported that clear audio (FM) leaks at around 430 MHz. Uniden - 9200 is two-line speakerphone with ability to charge extra battery. Extra battery WILL power base in power outage. - Almost everyone liked their Uniden, except for the echo. The echo (and some said clipping and distortion) appears only in your earpiece; the other person can't hear it, although you may find it very irritating. Miscellaneous - Radio Shack and NorthWestern Bell models are possibly OEM'd, but I have conflicting information on that. They are apparently not spread spectrum, but just broadcast your audio in the clear (FM). - Motorola makes a 49 MHz cordless phone that reverses the audio into something unrecognizable on scanner. There's one of these in my neighborhood; a plain scanner won't work on it, but it is pretty simple to build a circuit to un-reverse the audio (see rec.radio.scanner). The Motorola 49 Mhz apparently goes for around $400. - From the FAF - Frequently Asked Frequencies file on oak.oakland.edu - Panasonic KX-T9000 base 902.100-903.870 { 60 channels handset 926.100-927.870 { 30 kHz spacing VTech Tropez 900DX base 905.600-907.500 { 20 channels (digital) handset 925.500-927.400 {100 kHz spacing AT&T #9120 902.0-905.0 / 925.0-928.0 } OTRON CORP. #CP-1000 902.1-903.9 / 926.1-927.9 } unconfirmed SAMSUNG #SP-R912 903.0 / 927.0 } Chris Campbell dsrekcc@prism.gatech.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Oct 94 00:20:54 PDT Reply-To: vantek@sequoia.northcoast.com (Van Hefner) From: vantek@sequoia.northcoast.com (Van Hefner) Subject: NANP Nightmare Boston Business Misses Phone Calls Due to Bungled Exchange By Alex Pham, {The Boston Globe} Oct. 8 -- Lori Moretti lives to hear the phone ring. But since she recently moved her public relations firm to its new Boston locale near Fort Point Channel, the lines have been unusually quiet. The six-member crew of her firm, CM Communications, weren't used to sitting through long stretches of silence. First they blamed the weather, then the economy, then the time of year. Eventually they found out why. Few businesses they dealt with were able to dial the company's new exchange (the first three digits of their telephone number). "We kept getting complaints that people couldn't reach us," Moretti said. "They had to get an operator to reach us. So we called Nynex, and they told us that it was because our phone number was a new exchange." Many of the high-tech phone systems at area companies, including some that CM said were vital to its business such as the Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe and the Hynes Convention Center, simply didn't recognize the new 946 exchange as a valid number. "That was ridiculous," moaned Moretti. "Here we are, a public relations firm, and two of the city's biggest newspapers couldn't call us." She and her business partner, Michael Caglianone, gave Nynex an earful. But the phone company insisted that the number was a "viable exchange." "Well, bottom line is it hasn't been a viable exchange for our business," said Moretti, who estimates it would cost more than $5,000 to switch back to an established exchange when the cost of reprinting stationary, business cards and adress notifications are included. "To this day, I lie awake at night wondering what calls we've never gotten. How many businesses are out there with that exchange? Are they not getting calls, too?" Nynex officials concede there have been some problems with the new exchange but contend most businesses were not adversely affected. They said CM and other companies with the new exchange really didn't miss that many calls and the problems have been corrected. The phone company said that 4,000 of its customers were recently issued the new 946 exchange. Whenever a new exchange is created, residential customers and businesses that use Nynex phone equipment are automatically programmed to recognize the new numbers. But businesses that don't use Nynex equipment must individually program their machines to accept the new exchanges. Should human error cause an exchange to be missed, calls to that exchange will not connect. Oddly enough, technological progress may be the root of the problem. Because of the explosion of pagers, FAX machines, cellular phones, modems and online services, Nynex is being flooded with unprecedented demand for new numbers. There are 12.1 million phone numbers in use in Massachusetts, a 2.5 percent increase in the last quarter alone, said Susan Butta, a Nynex spokeswoman. That means one to two new exchanges must be added within the 617 and 508 area code each month to handle the new numbers. The demand for new numbers has also led Nynex to introduce an added layer of complexity. Beginning next Saturday, callers making a toll call within their area code must dial 1, the area code, then the seven-digit phone number. Thus, a caller in Boston must dial 617 first when they call Woburn, even though Woburn is still within the 617 area code. Now callers just dial 1 plus the phone number. Confusing? "The irony in all this was that Nynex went out of its way to give us a number that was easy to remember and easy to dial," Moretti said. Van Hefner * VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS * Eureka, California * [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: NYNEX cannot really be blamed because the proprietors of some private phone systems at large companies, universities, etc are klutzes. People wanted a telephone network where everyone did thier own thing, so that's what they got now over ten years ago. I used to work for a large department store downtown on a part time basis trying to straighten out the mess that predecessors had made of the Rolm PBX there. It was a mess! There were lots of exchanges they could not dial. The fact that the situation described in this newspaper account is quite common when new exchanges are cut in is not the fault of telco. If you want to run a PBX or a large private phone service, then you either know what you are doing or step out of the way and let someone else do it. Oh, I suppose it is easier to just ignore complaints and treat the users like ignoramuses and crackpots. Sometimes the telcos do not communicate with each other as they should though ... a case about five years ago involved a new exchange cut in by a telco in Wisconsin. Illinois Bell did not have it in their tables for several months afterward, and no amount of talking could get anyone at IBT to listen. Finally someone at AT&T twisted their arm, and found someone at IBT who understood what was wrong. So yes, it can be telco's fault where other telco's are concerned. I would not be surprised if there are people in other parts of the USA who are unable to get the 946 prefix discussed simply because their telco was not up to date. But still, where local service is concerned, the guys who run the private phone systems are the ones who need to get their act together. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Oct 1994 00:41:38 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The RS-232 Solution" by Campbell BKRS2SOL.RVW 940811 Sybex Computer Books 2021 Challenger Drive Alameda, CA 94501 USA 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 or Firefly Books 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313 "The RS-232 Solution", Campbell, 1989, 0-89588-488-7, U$24.95/C$32.95 Most computer users, even those dealing with communications and modems, will not have to deal with the intricacies of the RS-232 (or EIA-232E) interface standard for serial communications. You buy a cable, plug in the modem, and that's the end of it. For those who do want to know more, this book is fascinating -- as well as being completely accessible for the non-technical reader. Part one deals with the interface, reasons for an interface standard, and the general concepts and tools needed to attack an interface problem. Part two is primarily a series of "case studies" and specialized examples. Interestingly, Campbell nowhere gives a full listing of the RS-232 pin assignments, concentrating on the "Big Eight" which do form the foundation of almost all serial communications. The chapter on the Mac is most interesting -- the Mac does not have an RS-232 port, relying instead on a subset of the EIA-422 standard. Some notes are odd, however. The juxtaposition of a marginal note complaining about the IBM PC asynchronous (serial) port is placed, without comment, next to a discussion of male and female connector assignments. Read carefully, it indicates that IBM was right, but it may confuse some readers. Those who want the full technical details of the interface specification will have to get them elsewhere. Few will want as much detail on printers as is given here. For those hobbyists truly interested in the interface, this is an intriguing, and potentially quite useful, source. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKRS2SOL.RVW 940811. 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 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 10:49:00 +0100 From: adam ashby Subject: Request: New UK Dialing Codes The new UK dialing codes (prefixing all current codes with 1, plus a couple of entirely new codes) are now in operation and have been since August 1st. I was wondering if anyone has yet updated the UK area codes and made them available. The archives have the old codes, but with reference to the new codes. I could easily edit the old file - just wondering if anyone else had already done it. As a related aside -- all NT DMS switches in the UK were ready for the new codes before August 1st. And another one - OfTel (the regulatory body) is currently discussing a new (proposed) numbering plan for the UK :- 00 - International (current) 01 - PSTN (current) 02 - possible netowrk expansion (new) 03 - New mobile allocations (new) 04 - New mobile allocations (new) 05 - FreePhone numbers (new) 06 - FreePhone numbers (new) 07 - Personal numbers (new) - what are those??? 08 - Premium rate (new) 09 - Premium rate (new) Adam Ashby | 1560442@bnr.ca | BNR Europe Ltd. +44 1628 794622 | FAX | Maidenhead, ESN 590 4622 | +44 1628 794381 | England, SL6 4AG ------------------------------ From: anto@anggrek.inn.bppt.go.id (Anto Daryanto) Subject: GSM SIM Card: Different? Date: 11 Oct 1994 20:37:11 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Hi, I just talked to the Motorola GSM handphone provider in Jakarta (PT Satelindo) about their new service offering, GSM network in Jakarta. They said that to be able to use their handphone (Motorola 5200 and 7200) you have to use SIM card, OK, it's all right. But then they said that their SIM card can not be used in other handphone, such as Phillips, as they informed me. Is this true? As I understand, with only one SIM card you can use any GSM handphone in any country (of course as long as the countries have roaming agreement). Antonius Daryanto | Direktorat TEI a.daryanto@inn.bppt.go.id | BPPT Teknologi | Jakarta, INDONESIA ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #394 ****************************