From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Tue Sep 12 20:08:38 1995 by 1995 20:08:38 -0400 telecomlist-outbound; Tue, 12 Sep 1995 16:27:14 -0500 1995 16:27:11 -0500 To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu TELECOM Digest Tue, 12 Sep 95 16:27:00 CDT Volume 15 : Issue 378 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Secretary General of ITU to Speak at USF (Dennis Foote) Split of 314 (Missouri) NPA (Toby Nixon) V.34+ Documentation Wanted (Matthew A. Earley) Need Advice on a Norstar PBX Upgrade (Robert McMillin) Question on RBOCs, Long Distance and Legislation (John Crowley) CBTA Telecon '95 - Vancouver, BC, Canada Sept 12-14 (Greg Habstritt) GTE's Role in Mexican Gold Course Questioned (Nigel Allen) Bell Canada to Close Five Toronto-area Operator Locations (Nigel Allen) Re: Area Code Crisis -- A Different Viewpoint (Larry Ludwick) Re: Area Code Crisis -- A Different Viewpoint (Tye McQueen) 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. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 500-677-1616 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. * ************************************************************************ * In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, 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. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY A Symposium featuring Dr. Pekka Tarjanne Secretary General of the ITU San Francisco, Friday, September 29th, 1995 In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco, the Telecommunications Management and Policy Program in the McLaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco is pleased to host a symposium to examine the future global role of telecommunications and information technologies: INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY. Keynote speaker at the symposium will be Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). This conference presents a unique opportunity for telecommunications professionals in California to hear from the Secretary General. The ITU is the United Nations agency responsible for telecommunications. Based in Geneva, the ITU now has more than 185 member nations, and is responsible for global allocation of radio frequencies and standards for telecommunications. Following the Secretary General's address, panelists from the telecommunications industry, major users, policy makers and development experts will respond. Dr. Tarjanne will be present throughout the symposium to respond to the panelists' presentations and questions from the audience. Topics to be addressed include: * What is the role of the ITU in the 21st century? * What is the Global Information Infrastructure (GII)? How do we get to GII? * How can telecommunications contribute to Asia/Pacific development? * How will the globalization of business affect the telecommunications industry? * What new technologies and services will be growth leaders in the Asia/ Pacific region? The symposium is hosted by the Telecommunications Management and Policy Program in the McLaren School of Business at USF, in cooperation with co-sponsors Space Systems/Loral and AT&T Submarine Systems. The Telecommunications Program is a specialization within the MBA program at USF. The Telecommunications Program prepares graduates for Information Age careers, and conducts research on the impact of changes in technology and services in both U.S. and international environments. DATE: Friday, September 29, 1995 TIME: 9:00 am to 12:30 pm (On-site registration from 8:30 to 9:00) LOCATION: Pacific Rim Room, Lone Mountain Conference Center University of San Francisco (Front entrance on Turk, between Masonic and Parker) PARKING: Behind Lone Mountain (Enter from Parker between Turk and Anza) REGISTRATION FEE: $85 if preregistered, $95 on-site (Non-profits, members of professional associations: $45) TO PREREGISTER, PLEASE SEND CHECK PAYABLE TO "TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM, USF" TO: Telecommunications Program McLaren School of Business University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 For additional information, you may contact us at: Telephone: 415-666-2506 Fax: 415-666-2502 E-Mail: telecom@usfca.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And for those of you who attend, please greet Dr. Tarjanne and thank him for the support shown by ITU to this Digest over the past couple of years. The Telecom Information Exchange Service project at ITU provides a continuing grant to me for my work with this Digest. It would be *very hard* to continue the Digest without their support. Please let Dr. Tarjanne know your feelings about this. PAT] ------------------------------ A Bellcore Letter received today announces the split of the 314 NPA and creation of the 573 NPA. Here is the text of the letter. Letter Number: IL-95/08-015 Type: Informational Title: NANP-Split of 314 (Missouri) Numbering Plan Area (NPA) To: Recipients of North American Numbering Plan (NANP) information Entitled Companies: Unrestricted Abstract: This IL provides industry notification of the impending split of the 314 NPA We have been advised by Southwestern Bell Telephone Company that substantial telephone number growth in the eastern half of Missouri necessitates splitting the existing 314 NPA and the simultaneous introduction of a new 573 NPA. The St. Louis metropolitan area will retain the 314 NPA; Jefferson City, Columbia and the other towns in outstate Missouri will change to the 573 NPA. The split of the 314 NPA, and the beginning of a permissive dialing period, will take place 11:59 PM CST on Sunday, January 7, 1996. The permissive dialing period will end 11:59 PM CDT on Sunday, July 7, 1996. During the permissive dialing period, either 314 or 573 will be acceptable in a dialed number terminating in the new 573 NPA. After the permissive period, calls dialed with incorrect NPA codes, as defined in the NPA split information published in the Local Exchange Routing Guide (LERG), will be routed to intercept. All international and domestic carriers are asked to ensure that the new 573 NPA has been activated throughout their networks prior to January 7, 1996. A test number for the new 573 NPA will be established on or about December 15, 1995. The test number will be 573-792-8378. Local exchange carriers, alternative access providers, PBX equipment vendors and others are also being asked to make this number available to business customers by the start of permissive dialing. The attached map [not included in this message] illustrates the 314 and the 573 NPA configuration after the split. A listing of the communities to be served by each area code after the split is also attached. The dialing plan for the new 573 and 314 NPAs will be the same: * All home NPA (HNPA) "local" calls will be dialed on a 7 digit basis with no prefix; i.e., NXX+XXXX (7 digits). * All HNPA direct dialed "toll" calls (generally calls that incur an additional charge) will be dialed with a prefix "1" and 10 digits; i.e., 1+HNPA+NXX+XXXX (10 digits). * All foreign NPA (FNPA) direct dialed "toll" calls will be dialed with a prefix "1" and 10 digits; i.e., 1+FNPA+NXX+XXXX (1 + 10 digits). * Operator assisted calls including credit card, collect, and third party calls will be dialed with a "0" prefix and 10 digits; i.e., 0+NPA+NXX+XXXX (0 + 10 digits). [Transcribers note: the letter does not mention FNPA local calls; perhaps there won't be any after the split.] Questions of a technical nature should be directed to Pam Rak, Southwestern Bell, on (314) 957-1604. General questions should be referred to Lynda Meyer, Southwestern Bell, on (314) 957-6804. Copies of this letter are being forwarded to achieve the widest possible industry distribution and may be reproduced for further distribution as needed. Questions concerning the contents of this letter may be referred to Jim Deak, Bellcore, at (908) 699-6612. /signed/ J. N. Deak North American Numbering Plan Administration Towns remaining in 314 NPA: Antonia, Augusta, Cedar Hill, Chesterfield, Dardenne, Defiance, De Soto, Eureka, Fenton, Festus, Foley, Foristell, Gray Summit, Harvester, Hawk Point, High Hill, High Ridge, Hillsboro, Holstein, House Springs, Imperial, Jonesburg, Manchester, Marthasville, Maxville, Moscow Mills, New Melle, O'Fallon, Old Monroe, Orchard Farm, Pacific, Pevely, Pond, Portage de Sioux, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Louis, St. Peters, Town & Country, Troy, Truxton, Union, Valley Park, Ware, Warrenton, Washington, Wentzville, Winfield, Wright City Towns changing to 573 NPA: Advance, Annapolis, Argyle, Ashland, Auxvasse, Beaufort, Belgrade, Bell City, Belle, Belleview, Bellflower, Benton, Berger, Bernie, Big Springs, Birch Tree, Bismarck, Bland, Bloomfield, Bloomsdale, Blytheville, Bonne Terre, Boss, Bourbon, Bowling Green, Brazito, Bunker, Caledonia, California, Campbell, Canton, Cape Girardeau, Cardwell, Caruthersville, Center, Centertown, Centerville, Centralia, Chaffee, Chamois, Charlestown, Cherryville, Clark, Clarksburg, Clarksville, Clearwater, Climax Springs, Clubb, Columbia, Crocker, Cuba, Deering, Delta, Dexter, Dixon, Doniphan, Durham, East Prairie, Edgar Springs, Eldon, Ellington, Ellsinore, Elsberry, Eminence, Eolia, Essex, Eugene, Ewing, Fairdealing, Farber, Farmington, Fisk, Flat River, Fort Leonard Wood, Frankford, Fredericktown, Freeburg, Fremont, Frohna, Fulton, Garwood, Gerald, Gideon, Grandin, Gravois Mills, Greenville, Hallsville, Hannibal, Hatton, Hayti, Hermann, Holcomb, Hornersville, Horseshoe Bend, Holts Summit, Hunnewell, Huzzah, Iberia, Irondale, Ironton, Jackson, Japan, Jefferson City, Kennett, Laddonia, La Grange, Leadwood, Leasburg, Lesterville, Lewistown, Licking, Lilbourn, Linn, Louisiana, Lyon, Macks Creek, Malden, Marble Hill, Marston, Martinsburg, Meta, Mexico, Middletown, Mokane, Monroe City, Montauk, Montgomery City, Monticello, Morehouse, Morrison, Mount Sterling, Naylor, Neelyville, New Bloomfield, Newburg, New Florence, New Hartford, New Haven, New London, New Madrid, Oak Ridge, Oates, Old Appleton, Olney, Oran, Osage Beach, Owensville, Oxly, Palmyra, Parma, Patterson, Patton, Paynesville, Perry, Perryville, Philadelphia, Piedmont, Pocahontas, Ponder, Poplar Bluff, Portageville, Potosi, Puxico, Qulin, Redford, Rhineland, Richland, Richwoods, Risco, Rocheport, Rolla, Russelville, Safe, Salem, Santa Fe, Scott City, Senath, Shelbina, Shelbyville, Sikeston, Silex, Spring Bluff, St. Elizabeth, Ste. Genevieve, St. James, St. Marys, St. Robert, St. Thomas, Steele, Steelville, Stoutsville, Stover, Stanton, Sturgeon, Sullivan, Sunrise Beach, Sweetwater, Taos, Tebbetts, Timber, Tuscumbia, Van Buren, Vandalia, Versailles, Viburnum, Vichy, Vienna, Wappapelo, Wardell, Waynesville, Wellsville, Wesphalia, West Quincy, Williamsburg, Williamstown, Williamsville, Winona, Wyatt ------------------------------ I recently logged onto the US Robotics BBS and found the files necessary to upgrade my V.Everything to a 33.6k data-transmission rate. What standard does this faster data rate follow. I would guess it is USR or Rockwell proprietary, or is it a V.34+ from ITU? Does anyone know anthing about V.34+ or V.34 annex A? Where can I get more information? Who is primarily responsible for developing it? Last, is anybody aware of which companies have filed patents for or related to V.34 and/or V.34+? Thanks, Matthew ------------------------------ Hi, folks, this is my first post in a long time ... my old UUCP-connected 486 has stopped working, so I'm stuck using Netcom's overloaded machines for now. I have a little problem with my Northern Telecom Norstar switch. We're now at about two dozen incoming lines, half voice incoming and outgoing to the PBX, and the rest dedicated to things like fax machines. Our company is expanding like crazy. We're rapidly coming to the end of usefulness of this PBX in terms of extensions. The other problem we're having is that our long-distance bill is enormous: over the last two months, we've averaged $5.3k, a great deal of which consists of calls to France. (This works out to about $300 per employee, an astonishing figure!). So, as a side task, I've been looking into whether digital entrance facilities would help lower the cost of long distance. AT&T's guesstimate is that it could, but we have to know the cost of upgrading the PBX. My question to the audience: has anyone done this recently? Do I have to replace the whole shebang to make it work? Is there some add-on I can use without throwing away the existing hardware? We OWN this PBX, so leasing equipment also entails selling off what we have. Are there more cost-effective systems than the Option 11 switch, the next step up from Northern Telecom? Thanks for any input. Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com Jail to the Chief! | WWW: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/rl/rlm/home.html Ein Reich, ein Volk, ein Bubba! ------------------------------ Any information that anyone may have would be of a tremendous help. Q1) If telecom reform legislation continues and the RBOCs are allowed back into the 'long distance' game, how are the RBOCs going to compete? For example, Bell Atlantic has created a subsidiary Bell Atlantic Long Distance, Inc., but Bell Atlantic has neither a network or facilities outside of it's territory. How, therefore, will they carry and switch traffic across the country? Q2) Do any of the other RBOCs have an equivalent entity to Bell Atlantic's subsidiary Bell Atlantic Long Distance, Inc? If so, what are they? Q3) How can companies such as Bell Atlantic Long Distance, Inc. plan to compete against such traditional carries as AT&T and Sprint? I know these questions are somewhat broad, but I'ld appreciate any information or advice that anyone may be able to supply. John úÿ ------------------------------ Just wondering if anyone's attending the show this week in Vancouver? It's the biggest telecom show in Canada. Should be pretty good. Everyone who's anyone in telecom in Canada is there. habstrig@onair.cia.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've not received any mail on it yet but if anyone cares to make a report when they get home, it will be welcome here. PAT] ------------------------------ Here is a press release from Essential Information. I downloaded the press release from the U.S. Newswire BBS in Maryland at (410) 363-0834. I do not work for or belong to Essential Information or the organizations that signed this letter. Jack Nicklaus, GTE Tee Off Mexican Community, National Park Contact: Andrew Wheat of Essential Information, 202-387-8034 WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 -- Seven U.S. and environmental leaders called on Jack Nicklaus and GTE to withdraw support for a controversial recreational, residential and business development slated to be built on national park land near Cuernavaca, Mexico. The letter to GTE Data Services President Don Hayes and golf course designer Jack Nicklaus reads in part: As you know, the "El Tepozteco" development would be a multi-purpose luxury residential, recreational and business development eight miles south of Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos. It is estimated that Tepozteco's golf course alone will consume more than 4,000 cubic meters of well water a day, about five times the amount of this scarce resource than the entire town of Tepotzlan now consumes. Community members are also cncerned about the golf course's expected heavy use of agrochemicals and the potential for them to enter the water table and harm the region's rich bio-diversity. Another reason that El Tepozteco -- which would cover 187 hectares with 800 luxury homes, a five-star hotel, a business park, a helicopter pad and recreational facilities -- is so controversial is because it would be built on unusually beautiful land 45 miles from Mexico City, land that has legally enjoyed multiple layers of federal protection. El Tepozteco's site sprawls across land that has been federally recognized as: El Tepozteco National Park; Ajusco-Chichinautzin biological corridor; and "communal property" of 800 local "comuneros." ...the financing of the entire project hinges on GTE's commitment to invest $27.1 million in a "state-of-the-art data processing facility." The golf course designed by Nicklaus would be the anchor of the residential and recreational portion of the development. The international prestige attributed to Nicklaus courses is viewed as a magnet that would sell the development's residential and recreational facilities. GTE and Golden Bear have great influence over the outcome of this mislocated project. We are calling on you to exercise that influence responsibly by withdrawing your participation. Ralph Nader Corporate Accountability Research Group, Washington, D.C. Carl Pope Executive Director, Sierra Club, San Francisco, CA Barbara Dudley Executive Director, Greenpeace-USA, Washington, D.C. Brent Blackwelder Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, Washington, D.C. Lori Wallach Global Trade Watch Director, Public Citizen, Washington, D.C. Ed Maschkel Director, California Public Interest Group, Santa Barbara, CA Andi Liebenbaum Executive Director, People for Parks, Los Angeles, CA ------------------------------ Bell Canada's Toronto-area operators learned yesterday that the company plans to close five Operator Services offices in Metropolitan Toronto by the end of the year. Two of the offices (both located at Main Square, near the intersection of Danforth Avenue and Main Street) are located in rented premises. The others are in Bell-owned buildings. I'm not clear whether the offices being closed provide directory assistance, long distance services or both. I'm also not clear whether other locations outside Metropolitan Toronto are also being closed. Aggressive cost-cutting at other telephone companies, such as U S West, has led to service quality falling below levels that regulatory commissions would tolerate. I hope that Bell Canada can maintain adequate service levels after these offices are closed. Nigel Allen ndallen@io.org http://www.io.org/~ndallen/ ------------------------------ > If you're in NANP then you already have "local" numbers in > three standard lengths (seven, ten and three) and it > doesn't take a timeout to distinguish them; consider this: > * Is there any timeout when you dial "911" before the > switch decides that you aren't going to dial any more > digits? (There'd better not be!) No other number in the world (as dialed from North America) begins with 911. This makes it easy for the telephone switch to figure out. > * Is there a timeout after you dial a 7-digit number > before the switch decides you're not going to dial a > 10-digit number? (No?) Well, yes there is. With the introduction of NPAs that look like NXXs the switches now have to wait to see if any more digits are coming before routing the call. Although the prefix of 1, and the mandatory ten digit dialing of intraLATA toll calls, generally makes it simpler, the switches still have to watch out for those wierd combinations that cause trouble. > Well, why should seven and eight digit versions of local > numbers be any harder to deal? As long as no short number > ever forms a prefix for any longer number, the switch can > always tell how many more digits to expect after the first > few digits. I'm not sure I understand this one. If all (or most) seven digit numbers are in use (which is the only reason anyone would want an eight digit number in the first place), then all eight digit numbers would have the complication of having their fist seven digits be a working station somewhere else. In summary; eight digit phone numbers would not be significant problem for state of the art telephone switches, but not all switches in North America are state of the art. The majority of telco switches are state of the art, but not all. Variable length numbers would be a nightmare for private switch owners -- both equipment and administration. I feel sure it would be a major administrative problem. I'm not sure the gain in phone numbers would be worth the hair pulling. Let's just add new NPAs for a couple of more decades until the telephone system is replaced by whatever your vision is of the information superhighway. Larry Ludwick ------------------------------ 0400)) dmcmahon@edlgu4.ericsson.se (Denis McMahon) writes: > martin@kurahaupo.kurahaupo.gen.nz (Martin D Kealey) wrote: > >>> *Variable number length* > >> This is terrible idea, >> This is a *wonderful* idea. :-) > >> So the switch has to decide when you've finished > >> dialing by some means, usually a timeout. > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'd rather go to usually hitting "Enter" (for example "#") for all calls. Once you are entering more than about five digits, the chance of accidentally skipping a digit or inserting a digit are fairly high. The first is caught by a timeout. The second is not caught. I know because my office phone contains a repeated digit (say, 234-567-8890) so I get a lot of mis-directed calls from people trying to call any 234-567-890_ numbers. It used to seem (to me at least) that most USA IVRUs (Interactive Voice Response Units -- these don't usually respond _to_ voice, they respond, _with_ recorded voice, to the caller entering DTMF tones -- touch tones) standardized on requiring "#" after a string of digits has been entered. It is becoming much more common for these to not allow "#" after entries of fix-length digit strings, so I guess I'm in the minority. This is probably at least partially because Americans are used to _not_ entering "#" after dialing numbers. Of course, I often enter "#" after dialing numbers either because they are international and the calling card system and our PBX both must timeout otherwise or because I got in the habit after a TelCo pamphlet on using those "extra" features suggesting using "#" after each code so the feature would be activated more quickly. I recall some times when normal (local or national) calls seem to have been connected faster due to my entering "#" at the end, but I could have been mistaken. Perhaps the cellular phone craze will change this as people have to get used to hitting "Send" after they "dial" the number. Tye McQueen tye@metronet.com || tye@doober.usu.edu Nothing is obvious unless you are overlooking something http://www.metronet.com/~tye/ (scripts, links, nothing fancy) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #378 ******************************