From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Thu Aug 31 22:30:20 1995 by 1995 22:30:20 -0400 telecomlist-outbound; Thu, 31 Aug 1995 19:09:02 -0500 1995 19:09:00 -0500 To: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu There have been reports received that issue 365 from Tuesday has somehow gone astray in the mailing process. A duplicate copy is being transmitted at this time and is attached herewith. If you already received 365 and this is a duplicate, then please disgard it with my apologies. I really do not know what is going on to make the mail so sluggish the past couple of weeks. After all, in email post offices we do not have random violence, shootings and dissident workers like they do in snailmail post offices. PAT TELECOM Digest Tue, 29 Aug 95 23:05:30 CDT Volume 15 : Issue 365 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: San Francisco Area Codes (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: AT&T 1-500 Number - Any Advice? (Glenn Foote) Re: V&H Questions (James E. Bellaire) Re: AT&T Moving Into Local Exchange Market (David Breneman) Re: Telex History (pjk@ssax.com) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter_Mansfield@australia.notes.pw.com wrote: > Reading Mark Cuccia's interesting and informative history of the > Mexican hacks and TWX, this reminded me of something I read in Carl > Moore's history.of.area.splits in the Telecom Archives a while back > dealing with the introduction of area code 318 in 1951, which I'm > interested in finding out more about. Carl writes: >> 415/318 California, 1951 >> 318 was used for San Francisco only, during the Englewood (N.J.) >> Customer DDD Trials; Oakland remained in 415. Sometime before 1957, >> 318 was reclaimed for future use, and San Francisco returned to 415. >> 504/318 Louisiana, 1957 >> 318, used earlier for San Francisco, had been reclaimed by this time. > Furthermore, in 1959, according to Carl Moore's file, 415 did a > *three-way split* with West Central California moving to 408 and North > West California moving to 707, with the San Francisco Area retaining > 415 (which, as we know, later split again to form 415/510). I was the one who faxed Carl Moore a few months back with this info, to help him fill in the gaps in his Area Code history. It was photocopies of NPA maps from various time periods in the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's, from articles on Long-Distance, numbering and dialing, switching, etc. from Bell Telephone Magazine, Bell Laboratories Record magazine, Bell System Technical Journal, and from AT&T's Notes on the Network (1955 edition which was then titled "Notes on Nationwide Dialing"), and from a historical list of NPA assignments that my contact at Bellcore faxed me last year. > So, do any historians out there know anything more about these DDD > trials, specifically why a new NPA was allocated, and then reclaimed > several years later. Also, was it a full cutover, or simply some kind > of optional 'overlay' where either 318 or 415 could be used to reach > San Francisco? If San Francisco was still in 318 for some time after > 1951, why then did it return to 415, which was obviously nearing > capacity, as it split three ways a few years later? All press-releases in newspapers (microfilm back issues of the {New York Times}) or back issues of {Time, Life, Newsweek}, etc. had a brief blurb of an article in late 1951 stating that the Mayor of Englewood NJ called the mayors of San Francisco and nearby towns. Calls to points east of San Francisco Bay (Oakland) were dialed 415 + NNX-XXXX (there was NO 1+; just straight ten digits). The call from the Englewood NJ mayor to the San Francisco mayor was dialed 318 + NNX-XXXX. The call from Englewood to towns north of the Golden Gate were also dialed 318 + NNX-XXXX. AT&T's publication entitled Events In Telecommunications History also refers to the Englewood NJ trials. Incidently, it was not known at that time as DDD (Direct Distance Dialing) but something like Customer Toll Dialing or Nationwide Customer Dialing (something like what the UK used to call STD-Subscriber Trunk Dialing). There were also articles on this in magazines such as {Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Popular Electronics}. 318 was also mentioned. BTW, the 'official' maps in Bell's magazines in the early 1950's did *not* include 318! WHY was there this *special* code I don't know for sure. I can only guess that maybe there were some Central Office code/naming/letter conflicts within the SF Bay area? or maybe it was a routing determination? Incidently, when Englewood NJ was able to dial long-distance in 1951, it was *only* to specified towns/cities, such as Northern NJ area, NY City Metro area, Boston, Washington DC, SF Bay area, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. These larger metro areas were predominantly Panel and Crossbar (#1 and #5) switching regions, with little or no Step-by-Step, although there were still some operator/ manual local central offices in these cities. Automated Toll Switching was handled on a #4XB switch. Maybe since only specific *cities* were identified by the dialable areacode, it *could* be that AT&T wanted to identify Oakland as 415 and San Francisco as 318, until customers were more familiar with nationwide toll dialing. It could be that AT&T wanted to eliminate accidental wrong numbers (which would have been billed a MUCH higher toll charge than we know today; unless you are using Integratel or other AOSlime! ). If a NJ customer intended to dial 318 (San Francisco), but followed with the seven dial pulls which was actually an Oakland number (in error), then they *might* have gone to an intercept recording/operator. I don't know how long 318 was actually used to dial San Francisco -- I have nothing in print showing when it was 'put-back-into' 415 or whatever, other than I do know that when Louisiana's 'single' NPA, 504, was split in 1957, with 504 remaining for southeast Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, etc), and 318 covering western/northern Louisiana (Lafayette, New Iberia, Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Lake Charles, etc). In an early 1950's issue of {Bell Telephone Magazine}, there was mention of a Customer instruction booklets for Long-Distance dialing, for those areas which *could* dial LD. There was a small photo of the cover of a booklet and also some of the inside. However the resolution of the photo was NOT good, and I could not make out any text of the booklet itself in the magazine photo. It seems that the booklet gave Area Codes for those points which were customer direct dialable from that particular point at that time, and the Exchange Names and cities within the area code that could be dialed. Even tho' today I can get all of the current NPA-NXX info I want from Bellcore, I'd give 'anything' -- well not really for a copy of one of those 40+ year old booklets. > Finally, are there any other known cases such as this, where an area > code is split and is later reclaimed, or changed back to the former > code or somehow reshuffled (apart from another split or overlay)? I wouldn't actually call the use of 318 for San Francisco a split -- but that is the only case I know of this. Other than the fact that 903 had been used for the *extreme* border of northwest Mexico but reclaimed in 1980 when 70-6 was used (when AT&T and Telefonos de Mexico placed these border towns more specifically in +52-6XX..), and then 70-6 and 90-5 being reclaimed; and lets not forget the TWX special Areacodes (N10's) were 'reclaimed' when TWX was 'removed' from the Bell System's DDD switching network. All of these codes (318, 903, 706, 905, 510, 610, 710, 810, 910) have uses today which were NOT there original use. And, BTW, from Events in Telecommunications History (AT&T): on 15 June 1966, it is mentioned that Lowell Wingert of AT&T Long Lines placed a call from Philadelphia to Geneva Switzerland by dialing 200-233-1011. Of course this was some kind of special 'patch' code, since I had read in issues of Bell's magazines dated prior to 1966 that 011+ was going to be the IDDD access prefix, and that there were plans for Country Codes as we know them today. There is NO use of 41 for Switzerland in this demonstration international call. > Incidentally, the above three-way split of 415 in 1959 seems to indicate > that the current three-way split planned for Chicago cannot claim to > be the first, especially since the Chicago split/reorganization is > being implemented over about two years, and not all at once. (I don't > think anyone actually claimed that it *was* the first, just that that > it was the only one that anybody could think of!) And, while I don't have exact dates (month, date) only the year of introduction of Area Codes back in the 1940's, 50's, early 60's, I don't think that 415 was split three-ways overnight into 408, 707, and a smaller 415. Also, I don't think that areacodes reaching 'capacity' meant the same that it does today. Back then, the electromechanical switches diddn't handle the capacity of lines and trunks, unlike the ESS and Digital switches of today. Even #4XB and #5XB had special routing considerations when assigning Central Office codes. Back then there was also a lot more 'protection' of C/O codes when a 'community of interest' straddled an areacode boundary. These days there will be less and less of code protection in the North American numbering plan, and rather more mandatory ten-digit dialing, both across an NPA boundary, and even within NPA's. John Higdon is from the San Jose / San Francisco area. Maybe he might have some info to enlighten us on 318's use for calling into SF from outside of CA, or maybe some Bay area Exchange Name history -- (and SF was probably the only area of the country that used 55X numbers before All Number Calling -- KLondike-x (55X) WAS used in San Francisco, while most areas of the country never seemed to use the 55X range prior to the 1960s). MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1- 2497 WORK: mcuccia@law.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241- 2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865- 5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ In response to a query on misc.consumers I recently responded to the above request. I am posting the reply here too in an effort to continue the discussion regarding 500 numbers, their problems, and the impact that their failure has on the providors and users. Comments are always welcome. [Hi Pat, is _your_ 500 number working yet ??] To: Gina Waterman Re: AT&T 500 numbers = Bad News ... > Has anyone used AT&T's 1-500 Easy Reach Service? > I would appreciate any advice as I am looking into using it for > business purposes. > Please email. Thanks--Gina Gina, Let me start off by explaining that I am a semi-retired independent telecommunications consultant (voice systems and networks) with over 25 years experience in the industry. I have had the 500 service since that day after it was announced. My experience is that is just doesn't work! The reasons are many, but the result is the same from many places. Even in the US, access to 500 numbers is restricted and not just from pay phones (where it is really needed), and privately owned systems (PBX's), but also from homes and business accounts as well. This is true even when the long distance carrier for that number is AT&T. The concept is fine, just walk up to a phone, dial 1+500+xxx-xxxx and be connected. (0+500 is also an option, more on that later) The reality is that in over 25 _personal attempts_ to do this from various sites around the country, the call is denied UNLESS I first dial 10+ATT or 1-800-CALL-ATT. For the astute business person, or someone who is really determined to use the number (like myself) this _sometimes_ works. For others who are not so sophisticated the process is a disaster. _AT&T_ operators have told _me_ the following: "Those are porn numbers ... they can't be dialed from a pay phone." (I wonder how many of my clients heard that one!) "There is no such thing as a 500 number ... you must mean an 800 number ... please try your call again ... thank you for using AT&T ... ... buzzz ..." (nice try ... time to use another service) "We can't connect you to that number, it must be dialed directly." (AT&T states that when calling from outside the US, to contact them to complete the call.) "My equipment won't accept that number as a valid number." (Maybe not, but your billing equipment does.) There _are_ many more, but I can't remember all of them, fortunately. In my _considered signed personal opinion_ (which I normally charge good money for) the 500 service from AT&T _should not be considered_ as a viable option at this time. When I see AT&T making a serious attempt to correct the myriad of problems that plague this service I _may_ reconsider that opinion. Until then, and because of the broken promises in relation to this service, which I consider symptomatic of a growing problem with the quality of service and serious lack of integrity at AT&T, I am doing the following: I have started reviewing _all_ of my past recommendations to clients regarding the selection of a long distance carrier. My professional decision factors involving recommendations for service have always taken into account more than price. The real issue is this: When a company no longer can be counted on to deliver what it promises in quality or quantity it is time to re-evaluate it's role as a supplier. Over the course of my consulting career I made recommendations totaling much more than $19 million dollars (per year) in long distance usage. I expect current use has increased that figure. After my most recent discussion with an AT&T customer service supervisor regarding a significant failure of an AT&T operators refusal to accept my 500 number (plus pin) as a credit card number (from a restricted, dial disabled, pay phone in North Carolina), which you are _supposed_ to be able to do, and the total failure of AT&T to address the myriad of problems surrounding this 500 (and other) issues, I have decided to go back to those clients and (for free) perform another analysis of their long distance costs. The point is this: If we take the supposed business integrity of AT&T (or any other company) out of the picture, there is little to nothing to separate them other than price. If that is the case, and I believe that THEY have made it so, then I expect that many of the new analysis will show AT&T in a less than favorable light. This is doubly sad because it is within their power to address and fix these issues. For some reason, they choose not to do so. And, if they choose not to be a responsible organization, I choose take that irresponsibility into account when determining recommendations for any clients; future, present or past. So, Gina, all that aside; my recommendations for your problems: Get a _very_good_ 24 hour telephone seven days per week answering service. Communicate with them frequently. Let them know where you are at all times. Pay whatever it cost. If you _need_ the service, the cost will be well worth it. Glenn "Elephant" Foote ...... glnfoote@freenet.columbus.oh.us [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually my experience has, in general been the opposite of yours. I have never seen a payphone which rejected 500 calls (other than the bug in the system a month ago reported here which was fixed fairly promptly). I have never had to dial 10288 to get through on 500, and furthermore, dialing 10288 would not make a whit of difference anyway; we all know that the local telco examines all the data given first and *then, provided they find it in their routing tables* hand it off to the requested carrier. I can see a situation where the local telco might examine the 500 prefix and hand it to the carrier who is assigned that prefix or number, as is done with 800 calls now, but in that case your use of 10xxx would not matter either, just as 10xxx means nothing when dialing an 800 number. PAT] ------------------------------ ·_ Note: The original question was regarding converting VH to lat/long to global mileage. In TD362 lreeves@crl.com (Les Reeves) wrote: > There is a program, called NPA, which will do what you want. > Here is the info on the latest version: > NPA for WINDOWS <04Jul95> - Comprehensive area code (NPA), prefix > (NXX), and city name locator. [SNIP] > I tried to find an contact number for the author, but this is a > WINDOZE program, and everything but the file description is in the > form of a Windows .hlp file. > The author goes by the name of PC Consultant, and is located in Houston. He also goes by the name Robert Ricketts. Last I knew (April '95) his email was . He also is 73670.1164@compuserve.com. His snail address: PO Box 42086 Houston, TX 77242-2086. His contact number is (713) 826-2629, V-MAIL ONLY, but he does call back quickly most of the time (especially if you want to register!). The contact information is on the 'setup tab' in the program. Press (MORE) from the main program screen to read it. > This is an excellent program. I have been using the DOS version for a > couple of years. I second that. Mr. Ricketts keeps up with all the new NPA's too. The new version adds multiple ZIPs per NXX as well as labeling NXXs based on type (USA only, Cellular or Landline). Although there are a few errors in which NXXs are assigned to cellular, probably carried from his source. BTW: The new version is available via CompuServe (GO TELECOM). It hasn't appeared elsewhere on the net yet. James E. Bellaire (JEB6) bellaire@tk.com ------------------------------ In article -TELECOM Digest Editor noted: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, I don't think they could buy up those > companies. I think all those former AT&T companies have to be left alone > where AT&T is concerned. That is what I meant by saying 'several monopolies'. > Today, a hundred years after the government-ordered breakup of the Standard > Oil Trust owned by John Rockefeller, any of the various parts of the former > oil monopoly (Exxon, Amoco, Chevron, etc) are by themselves larger than the > original monopoly. Competition, eh? So let's open a gasoline refinery and > oil producing business and see how far it gets us ... Hey, my girlfriend's father did just that! He quit his job at Chevron and opened his own refinery. While it didn't make him another Rockefeller, she did grow up in a "two boat family". He passed away several years ago, but the company he founded, Associated Petroleum, is a major local (Puget Sound area) provider of petroleum products. "Only in America..." I know thia doesn't have anything to do with telecom issues, but it shows what's possible. :-) David Breneman Unix System Administrator Mail: david.breneman@mccaw.com IS - Operations (Beginning September 11th: ~@attws.com) McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. Phone: +1-206-803-7362 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are right of course. It can happen here, but sadly a lot less often than it used to many years ago. Remind me sometime to tell the story of a fellow nicknamed 'Cappy' who worked for Illinois Bell back in the 1950-60 era. One day he got fed up, and with a fellow worker they withdrew all their profit sharing/pension plan money and moved to some little town in Arizona where they bought the local telephone cooperative which was on the verge of bankruptcy. They found wires strung along cattle ranchers fences through the countryside, susbcriber equipment dating back to the 1930's, etc ... a horrible mess. But by golly they cleaned it up over a period of a few years and later sold it for a huge profit. Indeed, it can be done. And what about that fellow in (I think) Utah with the tiny little telco with a grand total of eight subscribers? Is he still around? You are right ... only in America. PAT] ------------------------------ The discussion of telex machines brings back memories of an interesting story ... In 1986 I was hired to automate a travel agency which did African Tours. This being before FAX machines were widespread, most of the correspondence to Africa was done via Telex. The agency was rapidly growing, had purchased a computer, and was seeking to automate operations wherever possible. Easylink (store and forward telex via E-mail) from WUTCO had become available, so with a few hacks to sendmail (UNIX mail program) I was able to gateway mail into the telex network. Before then, the company had a full time telex operator, and telexes were frequently delayed, went out with the usual mis-spellings due to bad transcription, etc. Now people could type their own telexes at their desk, and send them immediately. So, was everybody happy? Of course not. As the case with most travel agencies, annual turnover was close to 100%, so every month, I would get a call from the new person, asking "Where's the telex machine?". I would explain that you prepared telexes with the word processor, and then e-mailed them to the telex network. "Ok, how to I punch the tape, then?" ... After a few rounds of this, I dug a telex machine out of the dump, cleaned it up, hooked it to the computer using the current loop interface, and wrote some shell scripts to simulate connecting to the telex network. This worked great for a while. Then, while I was in Africa, on a tour, I started getting *telegrams* from the agency, that the telex machine was broken, and that WUTCO refused to fix it. The office was in a total uproar, and they couldn't do business. In the meantime, they messengered telexes to the local WUTCO office to carry on. When I got back, I looked at the computer to troubleshoot the problem. There was no dial tone at the modem. I saw a shiny new FAX machine in the office and noticed its phone line was plugged into ... THE MODEM LINE!!!!!! I placed a call to WUTCO, had them install a hard-wired line to the the telex network, and everybody was happy ever after ... until WUTCO got out of the telex business. But, by then, the African travel boom was over and FAX was king. Moral of the story: User Interface is everything! Cheers, etc., PJK ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #365 ******************************