------------------------------ From: bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (William E. White) Subject: Need Some Basic Leased Line Information Organization: Ohio University, Computer Science Department Date: Tue, 03 Jan 1995 21:45:27 GMT A friend and I are interested in getting a leased line to a commercial internet service provider, and have some basic questions that we haven't found decent answers to yet. Specifically, we've contacted OARNet, and received information on ISDN, 56Kb, LVT1, and T1 connections. However, our understanding is that we need to provide the local loop to the nearest OARNet site -- in our case Columbus (we're in Athens, about 100 miles from Columbus). Specifically, what do we *do* to provide this local loop? I'm assuming it's done through our local telco (GTE -- ugh!), but are the costs based on how far it is to Columbus, or how far it is from our site to the phone company? And if the latter is true, would it make sense to find a cheaper provider than OARNet that might be further away? Thank you for your suggestions; my knowledge of telecom stuff is very limited. Heck, I'm not even sure what a T1 line *is*, other than 1.5MBps and around $2.5K per month from OARnet. Bill White +1-614-594-3434 | bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu 44 Canterbury, Athens OH 45701 | finger for PGP2.2 block http://oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu/personal/bwhite.html (check it out!) ------------------------------ From: malik@access.digex.net (Sohail Malik) Subject: "High-end" Phone Products Date: 3 Jan 1995 03:20:23 -0500 Organization: Alif International I'm looking to purchase a telephone with the following features: 2 or 3 lines Conference facility Speaker phone capability Hangable on the wall Cordless I have not found too many of these on the market, at least not from my favorite manufacturers (AT&T and Motorola). In particular, the confer- ence facility needs to be high quality (many I've tried make it hard for the conferenced parties to hear each other). Would anyone be able to recommend particular brands/models that fit these requirements? Also, are there any mail-order places or magazines that specialize in these types of things that I should look at? Thanks in advance, Sohail ------------------------------ Organization: Penn State University Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1995 10:06:52 EST From: Peter M. Weiss Subject: Bell Atlanta-PA Insert Disclaimer Found in my Bell Atlantic-PA December bill: "You cannot use Caller ID blocking to block your number when you call an 800 or 900 number. The number goes to the company who provides this service. We do not have a way to block your number when you call an 800 or 900 number. You should know that some companies use your number for marketing and other reasons. However, after April 12, 1995 the FCC has said that they must first ask you if they can use this information for other purposes." Pete-Weiss@psu.edu (Penn State U) ------------------------------ From: sdenny@spd.dsccc.com (Stephen Denny) Subject: Memorized Area Codes Date: 3 Jan 1995 19:15:07 GMT Organization: DSC Communications Corporation, Plano, Texas USA In the small tourist town of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, located at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, is an amusement park named Dollywood. It is owned by the well-known singer Dolly Parton who originated from Pigeon Forge. At one of the large theatres at the park, there is a fellow who does an audience warm-up act for a show. As part of his act he has the audience call out their favorite area codes and he tells them their location. He is quite good and is virtually never stumped. I suspect that with all the area code splits, he is going to have his hands full keeping up! Stephen Denny sdenny@sun004.cpdsc.com DSC Communications Corp. Plano, TX, USA **Standard Disclaimer** ------------------------------ From: glnfoote@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Glenn Foote) Subject: Direct Rate Negotiation (VN) Date: 3 Jan 1995 01:13:34 -0500 Organization: The Greater Columbus Freenet I need to find out how major telecom providers are charging for High Volume Services. For example, if a company is (or is thinking of) using a Virtual Network (or the like) and is generating well in excess of 150,000 long distance (48 states only) network hours per month, (plus another 20,000 hours of inbound 800) can that company reasonably expect to negotiate rates with the common carriers? If not, at what point, in your opinion, would direct rate negotiations be considered? Does it make any difference in any negotiations if the general types of calls are short, ie; less than 90 seconds for about 80% of the calls. And to what extent does the Time of Day enter into the picture. In general, what cost per minute should any discussion ask for? Is $0.125 too high, is $0.085 too low? Also, What starts the timer? Initial Dial Tone (assuming direct access to LD carrier), End Of Dialing Sequence, Start of Ringing, or Answer by the Called Party. And, what ends the timer? Hang up of Called Party, Central Office indication to Common Carrier, Hang Up of Calling Party, or some combination thereof. Feel free to use E-mail to respond to this one .... Thanks, Glenn L Foote ...... glnfoote@freenet.columbus.oh.us ------------------------------ From: jackp@telecomm.admin.ogi.edu (Jack Pestaner) Subject: Finland Data Transmission Date: 3 Jan 1995 03:48:44 GMT Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute We have been communicating to a site in Finland with autoranging 14.4k modems. On a good day we can run at 9600, but typically at 2400. We have tried AT&T, MCI, and IDB (all are direct digital connections through our PBX), but all seem to be extremely variable. We use NetBlazer modems, same model, on each end. This is really expensive, and we want to move to a more reliable service, as we expect to have longer hold times of three to five hours a day. I checked on a 56k DDS, but cost was about $9K per month. Are there any satellite solutions, or packet solutions that anybody knows of? BTW, we also tried x.25 from Sprint, but service went down often, and Sprint just has the WORST customer service for problem solving. Thanks, Jack ------------------------------ From: eedari@aachen.eed.ericsson.se (Arndt Ritterbecks) Subject: Personal Communcications Date: 3 Jan 1995 19:15:24 GMT Organization: Ericsson Eurolab Deutschland GmbH Reply-To: eedari@aachen.eed.ericsson.se Hello out there! I'm a diploma student at the Ericsson Eurolab in Germany. My final thesis' topic is: "Adaption And Implementation Of UMTS DDB Concepts For PSCS". The goal of the third generation telecommunication system UMTS is the integration of all telecommunication networks taking into account user and terminal mobility. PSCS is a service concept wherein a service provider offers personal communication to an end user. That means: users are able to organize communication to their own preferences. PSCS can be seen as an improvement and continuation of the UPT ideas (UPT: Universal Personal Telecommunication). Both, UMTS and PSCS, are parts of research projects of the European Community. One of my tasks is to develop a database concept for PSCS. For it I have to find all required data to realize PSCS, e.g. data necessary to support the capabilities of different terminals. One of my points of interest is: are there any conventions or standards holding data of users or terminals in a database? Because information about these and related topics is hard to find I would be very pleased about anybody helping me to find newsgroups, mailinglists, ftp servers, WWW URLs, institutes or email-addresses of persons occupied with one of the following topics: UMTS, UPT, PCS, intelligent networks, personal communications, terminal data. Thank you for any help!!! Arndt ------------------------------ From: primeperf@aol.com (Prime perf) Subject: Script Translation for TDD/TTY Use Date: 03 Jan 1995 10:35:31 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: primeperf@aol.com (Prime perf) Could someone direct me to a script translation service, preferably in the Washington-Baltimore-Richmond area, that can translate information scripts for use on an automated information line accessed by TDD/TTY users? Obviously, I would prefer it if you can recommend a service provider that you have used. Please email direct. ------------------------------ From: amcphail@hookup.net (Alex McPhail) Subject: Cell Phone Programming Date: Tue, 3 Jan 1995 04:45:27 GMT Organization: TeraScope Research Does anyone have information about how to program your cell phone to change your phone number, etc. Thanks in advance, Alex McPhail TeraScope Research amcphail@hookup.net Voice: +1 (613) 730-1416 Fax: +1 (613) 730-1408 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh, I'm sure we have all that information among the various readers here. It would help if you would tell us the kind of phone you have. You might also check out the Motorola programming file in the Telecom Archives and the other articles in the cellular sub-directory there. And let's keep it on the up and up, please. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #1 ****************************