TELECOM Digest Mon, 12 Oct 92 00:33:30 CDT Volume 12 : Issue 773 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson What is WSM? (Was Cellular Phones With Scramblers) (5066432@mcimail.com) Michigan Bell: Business vs Residential Rates (Ken Jongsma) Phone Network Simulator (Andrew Klossner) Detection of Pulse Dial Codes by Information Response Systems (Mark James) Touch Tone Question (Tom Kovar) "It's a New NPA in Georgia..." (Paul Robinson) "...is the Highest Law of the Land..." (Paul Robinson) ATM Technical Information Wanted (Josh Cohen) Another List of Cellular Phone Prices (Paul Robinson) 911 Calls from Remote Locations (Joseph Bergstein) Caller-ID Privacy Question (Jason Hunsaker) Email to Serbia (Yugoslavia) (Kirill Tchashchin) Huh? (John Higdon) LEC Repair Disservice (Steven S. Brack) Smart Equipment? (Carl Moore) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 14:48 GMT From: 0005066432@mcimail.com Subject: What is WSM? (Was Cellular Phones With Scramblers) Carl Moore (Cmoor@@brl.mil) asked what is WSM ... WSM is a clear channel radio station that operates out of the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. I've never had the opportunity to listen to it (and I don't really care for country music anyway) but I understand it can be heard in some 23 states. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 10:32:08 EDT From: Ken Jongsma x7702 Reply-To: jongsma@esseye.si.com Subject: Michigan Bell: Business vs Residential Rates In a recent bill insert from Michigan Bell (News and Views), a small article caught my eye. The article was promoting the installation of a second phone line. This is nothing new. However, one paragraph read as follows: "Home based workers who use their phone lines for business more than 50% of the time need a business line." At first glance, this seems to be a pretty reasonable compromise on class of service billing. How one determines 50% may be open to discussion, but it beats the attitudes of some companies that want to bill business rates if you so much as publicise your phone number. Kenneth R Jongsma jongsma@esseye.si.com Smiths Industries 73115,1041@compuserve.com Grand Rapids, Michigan +1 616 241 7702 ------------------------------ From: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com (Andrew Klossner) Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 12:26:11 PDT Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com Subject: Phone Network Simulator I want to test a modem's network interface without connecting to a live telephone network. I've heard that there are devices with several RJ-11 jacks that simulate network interfaces, but I don't know where to look for them. Can you give me pointers to such devices? Andrew Klossner (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com) ------------------------------ From: mrj@moria.cs.su.oz.au (Mark James) Subject: Detection of Pulse Dial Codes by Information Response Systems Reply-To: mrj@cs.su.oz.au (Mark James) Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 08:25:50 GMT I dialed an airline automated infomation system the other day and it allowed responses to be either tone or pulse encoded. The tones could be detected at any time, but you had to wait till after a beep for the pulse code to be recognised. What mechanism to they use to detect the pulses? Can you buy equipment that will respond to tones and pulses? Are pulses only able to be detected on an incoming analog line, or could they also be detected on an ISDN line from a call originating in the POTS network? Thanks for your help, Mark James | EMAIL : mrj@cs.su.oz.au | Basser Department of Computer Science, F09 | PHONE : +61-2-692-4276 | The University of Sydney NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA | FAX : +61-2-692-3838 | ------------------------------ From: tom@bim.itc.univie.ac.at (Tom Kovar) Subject: Touch Tone Question Organization: Inst.of Theor.Chemistry,Univ.of Vienna,Austria Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 13:30:46 GMT I've got a problem with touch tone. Our nice city has parts of its telephone network already on the touch tone system, parts without it. I am living in a touch tone district; our institute is still in the pulse dialing region. But the internal network of the institute is touch tone, again. And this is the problem. I want to reach my replying machine at home, and send it some touch tone signals. Unfortunately, our institute's "gateway" transforms all outgoing touch tone signals into pulse sequences, thus the remote end gets just the first trace of the beep, interrupted by the pulsing. And, naturally, does not react. Nobody knows here, how (if??) I can force the gateway to stop the transformation of the beeps into pulse sequences. Is there any standard defined method for that? I'd be very grateful for any help. Desperately, Tom (+43/1) 436141 670 (+43/1) 214-0608 priv. [Moderator's Note: Does your system continue pulsing even after the connection has been established? You might try hitting the * or # keys first, then the answering machine commands. Some systems will quit pulsing and just pass along the tones if they get the * or # first as a signal to not pulse but just pass along what is heard. Other than that, you may have to get one of the handheld touchtone pads which you hold up to the receiver and press ... and that is assuming your system won't start pulsing when it hears those tones also. Incidentally, in the regular course of dialing, what does the * and # produce? Sometimes they act like repeat dial, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 21:26:51 EDT Subject: "It's a New NPA in Georgia..." (With apologies to Ray Charles...) "It's a new area code in Georgia, Looks Like a new area code in Georgia, Feels like I'm dialing all over the world..." According to a map I have received, all of Georgia which is currently in area code 404 will move to area code 706 except for the following: Entirely in 404: Cobb, Gwinnett, De Kalb, Clayton, Henry, Rockdale, Fulton, and Douglas Counties. Split between 404 and 706 are the following: Spaulding, Carroll, Cowita, Fayette, Walton, Barrow, Forsyth, and Cherokee Counties Area code 912 does not change. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These (uninformed) opinons are my own, and no one else is (stupid enough to be) responsible for them. ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 21:50:21 EDT Subject: "...is the Highest Law of the Land..." Here's a little tidbit I forgot about. Many years ago I lived in California and did some research into State Constitutional provisions and discovered something interesting that is rarely mentioned. It is also unusual in that it is a feature which no other state provides for, and is an extremely strong provision. Two sections of the California Constitution provide that the highest law of the state is not the State Constitution, but the Public Utilities Code. The State Legislature may create any provisions in the Public Utilities Code and as long as those provisions are applicable to the regulation of Public Utilities, if those provisions conflict with the State Constitution, the provision of the Public Utilities Code will override the State Constitution. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These (uninformed) opinons are my own, and no one else is (stupid enough to be) responsible for them. [Moderator's Note: That is a very interesting finding ... where the state constitution is a bit hard to change, public utility commissions are bought and sold all the time. :( PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 22:38:02 -0400 From: Josh Cohen EMT Subject: ATM Technical Information Wanted Do you have or know where I can get any technical information on ATM machines/cards or other magnetically encoded card systems? I am currently taking a proseminar course at Lehigh University in Computer Engineering and that is my topic. Unfortunately up to now, I have not been able to find much information at all. Please help :-) jrc5@lehigh.edu jrc5@pl122a.eecs.lehigh.edu [Moderator's Note: Actually, the banks, credit card processors and a few others would prever that you not find out much information about the topic ... but TELECOM Digest readers will come to the rescue I am sure with all you ever wanted to know on the topic. PAT] ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 21:59:54 EDT Subject: Another List of Cellular Phone Prices Three cellular phone offers appear in Luskin's {Washington Post} ad, October 9: Quad Nam, Antenna and Cigarete Lighter included, Transportable Hands Free, $49.00 (Why does a cellular phone include a cigarette lighter? :)) GE Hand-Held Cellular phone, $169.00 Neither of these mention any tie-in requirements. Motorola "tote" Cellular Phone, "Transportable from car-to-car, Antenna & Cigarette Lighter, Full 3 watts, No Installation Required, Certain Cellular Telephone Company Restriction may apply." $0.01 (That is correct, one cent.) Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These (uninformed) opinions are mine alone (because nobody else is stupid enough to have them). [Moderator's Note: I think that was a typographical error and meant to say 'cigarette lighter adapter plug', ie. you can charge or operate the phone from the car battery. Even though those two you mentioned did not include a cellular company contract in them, are you certain that somewhere in small print it was not otherwise mentioned in the ad? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph.Bergstein@p501.f544.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Joseph Bergstein) Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 12:20:10 -0500 Subject: 911 Calls From Remote Locations As an added note to discussion of PBX originated 911 calls, I submit the following cautionary story. I've heard that an area firm has a main office with a large PBX, and several remote satellite offices with small key or hybrid systems. The small remote office systems are connected to the main PBX via OPX lines, and have no direct outside calling capability at those locations. All outbound calls are routed via the OPX lines to the main PBX where they then go out either on local CO trunks, or T-1 service to the IXC. Well, some months ago, as the story goes, a 911 call was placed from a remote location because someone appeared to have had a heart attack. The county dispatcher used the E911 data to determine where to dispatch police and ambulance. Well, you guessed it! They showed up at the main office, because that's what the ANI indicated for the CO trunks; not ten miles away at the remote location where the call originated. The story concluded with note that the police dispatcher was supposed to (and failed to) verbally verify the address before dispatching the ambulance. I'm not sure it's possible, but if you manage a similar configuration, you should try to contact the E911 telecom manager to see if the database for your home office CO trunk ANI's can be flagged to force the dispatcher to verify address prior to dispatch. This can be life threatening in the wrong circumstances. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Oct 1992 20:33:29 -0600 (MDT) From: Jason Hunsaker Subject: Caller-ID Privacy Question Organization: Utah State University Maybe I'm missing the point, but if blocking caller-ID is such a big issue of privacy, what's wrong with having call blocking made available as part of unlisted and/or unpublished number services? That is to say, if one requests an unlisted and/or unpublished number, the caller-ID block is automatic. If one has a regular listed, published number, there is no blocking. It seems so obvious to me. What loop-holes or problems does this solution have? The people for whom privacy is such a big issue probably already have unlisted or unpublished numbers, and thus caller-ID blocking would be obvious for them. For the rest of us, what's all the concern about? Businesses selling your phone number? If it's already in the phone book, what difference does it make? What would be the difference between that and the 800 call tracking that business can already get? Someone enlighten me please regarding this. Jason Hunsaker -|- Logan, Utah -|- Internet: slhw4@cc.usu.edu [Moderator's Note: We pretty much gave up on Caller-ID pro/con and privacy discussions here a couple years ago because they were going no where and I was overloaded with messages all the time. I published this message from Mr. Hunsaker so that people who want to do so can contact him personally in email. And of course the comp.privacy group moderated by Dennis Rears will entertain these messages also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kirill@newsbytes.msk.su (Kirill Tchashchin) Subject: Email to Serbia (Yugoslavia) Reply-To: kirill@newsbytes.msk.su Organization: Newsbytes News Network / Moscow Bureau Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 00:10:17 GMT Hi: As far as I know, EUnet has discussed the implementation of the Serbian embargo (disconnecting the mail link, literally speaking). I know that Russians tried to keep the link alive, as it's rather better to have them beating each other in the flame war, not in actual war. But this did not work and EUnet has decided to disconnect. I don't know for how long it will stay in this state. Will appreciate any further information. Kirill Tchashchin Newsbytes News Network ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 00:28 PDT From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: Huh? Latest Sprint commercial: "We interrupt this commercial for this important message. An independent consumer organization has found that among unrestricted calling plans, Sprint often offers the lowest rate with the least restrictions." So let us take a look at this (for those who shop by listening to commercials rather than looking at rates) statement and see what it tells us. It says that what Sprint calls "unrestricted" actually has restrictions. Sometimes those restricted calling plans (which Sprint refers to as "unrestricted") have lower rates than the competition (but not always). Pretty heavy stuff. Guess I should immediately "switch to Sprint"! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 [Moderator's Note: Speaking of interuptions for important messages, the Chicago papers had an clever and funny advertisment Sunday. Channel 50 ran a full page ad showing the three presidential candidates and a caption saying "at six pm central time tonight, seven television networks will be showing you these three men. Here at Channel 50, we will be showing you these three guys instead." Then immediatly below the caption was a picture of the Three Stooges. I thought that ad was pretty funny. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 11 Oct 1992 17:31:45 -0400 (EDT) From: sbrack@jupiter.cse.UTOLEDO.edu (Steven S. Brack) Subject: LEC Repair Disservice (was Happy With MCI) I recently called Ohio Bell to report that one of their machines that generated SIT recordings wasn't operating correctly. No matter how many times I repeated myself, in successively simpler (non-telecom) language, the teledroid at the other end couldn't understand what trouble I was reporting. I finally had to resort to the "let me speak to your supervisor" approach to get anywhere. The specific problem: on calls to invalid numbers, the recording was quite garbled. What the CSR at Ohio Bell thought the problem was: 1) Are you sure it's not in your equipment? 2) It's probably a problem with your long-distance company. I honestly don't know how some people get jobs in the telecom industry. Steven S. Brack sbrack@jupiter.cse.utoledo.edu 2021 Roanwood Drive STU0061@uoft01.BITNET Toledo, OH 43613-1605 brack@uoftcse.cse.utoledo.edu +1 419 GR4 1010 MY OWN OPINIONS sbrack@maine.cse.utoledo.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 16:44:41 EDT From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) Subject: Smart Equipment? It has been discussed here that Bellcore recommends that 1 +NPA + 7D be useable for all calls, not necessarily meaning that 7D for local calls should be dropped. The equipment would have to be smart enough to recognize those prefixes which are local. A public reference to smart equipment was made on a Philadelphia TV station when the "no 1" announcement was made (i.e., change from 1 + 7D to 7D for long distance within 215). It was said then that the equipment was smart enough to spot the exchange and know what kind of call it was. That announcement about 215 area did not mention the quirk I found later for Adamstown and Denver, which are out on the fringe of 215. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V12 #773 ******************************