TELECOM Digest Tue, 17 Jan 95 21:48:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 40 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Modem-Voice Incoming Call Switching (Harold Buehl) Re: Call Overflow Question (Chris Hardaker) Re: Cellphone Now Giving ANI? (Steve Brack) Re: 206 to 360 Experience (Carl Moore) Re: Distinctive Ringing Specifications (Wayne Huffman) Re: General Datacom ATM Switches Sign Deal With Siemens (brenner@mars) Re: Long Distance Blocking, was Re: Old Rotary Service Question (W Huffman) Re: Horrible Eartquake in Japan (Peter Leif Rasmussen) Re: GSM Cellular Operators List (Matthew Richardson) Re: How to Find Your Number (Carl Moore) Re: 500 Number Assignments (Carter Thomasson) Re: 500 Number Assignments (bkron@netcom.com) Re: AT&T Enters Rochester NY Local Telephone Market (Bob Thompson) Re: Acronym for "Information Superhighway" (Mark Brader) Re: GSM Cellular Operators List (Kimmo Ketolainen) Re: Address Wanted For KPN (Hendrik Rood) Digital Cellular Phones (Mark Stieger) PBX Information Needed (chrisd@blazers.com) Re: LD ISDN Service (Ed Goldgehn) Re: Address Wanted For KPN (Jean B. Sarrazin) Zombie Voice on COCOTS (Carl Moore) Re: About the GIF Incident and Substitutes (Dik T. Winter) Re: Mail Order Outlet For Cellular Batteries (Doug Reuben) Need Phone Numbers for Consumer Tel. Equipment Companies (norbert@primenet) 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: 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. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hbuehl@dsm1.dsmnet.com Subject: Re: Modem-Voice Incoming Call Switching Date: 17 Jan 1995 19:51:36 GMT Organization: Des Moines Internet Reply-To: hbuehl@dsm1.dsmnet.com In , jmandel@carbon.cudenver.edu (Jan Mandel) writes: > A while ago I have posted a question how to switch incoming calls to > an answering machine or a modem. Many have pointed out that incoming > modem call is just silence and it is the answering modem that makes > the shreeking noise. Thank you all. > Consequently to decide if the incoming call is modem or not one would > have to subject all callers to the unpleasant shreek. I am a little late in seeing this thread, but there is another solution. The modems can be set up as reverse-carrier which means that it is the calling modem that "shreeks" and the receiving modem is silent. This is the way that FAX/MODEM switches work where you can share a single line between a Fax Machine, a modem, and a answering machine. Unfortunatly, both the sending and receiving modems need to be set up as reverse-carrier so you cannot use this for a bulletin-board type of setup since the callers will have to use a non-standard setup inorder to access your dial-in line. Harold Buehl ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Call Overflow Question From: hardaker@clear.co.nz (Chris Hardaker) Date: 17 Jan 95 09:21:15 EST This is in reply to Mark Kelly's question about overflowing from one DN to another. It depends on the technology supporting your T1. If it is sitting on some advanced switch like a DMS (advanced in relation to electro- mechanical), a simple 'replace tuple' after the overflowing trunk group and then send the switch back to it's digit analysis tables will do the trick. This set up will work with a few of the MITEL and GEC PBX's out there also. If it's anything older than a DMS, a second trunk group appears to be your only choice. Chris Hardaker Network Manager CLEAR Communications Auckland New Zealand Ph + 64 9 912 4286 Fax + 64 9 912 4451 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 17:11:55 -0500 From: Steve Brack Subject: Re: Cellphone Now Giving ANI? In article holland@perot.mtsu.edu (Mr. James Holland) wrote: > The ANI returned on my cellular service (CellOne of Tennessee) is that > of the business office of the local 911 office. Any idea why that is, > or if it's only a fluke? Applying some social engineering, the ANI of the 911 business office would probably be a good flag for special subscriber numbers that don't return a true ANI, like cellular numbers. After all, how often do you think their own business office calls 911? Steve Brack, Consultant | sbrack@eng.utoledo.edu Toledo, OH 43613-1605 | sbrack@cse.utoledo.edu MY OWN OPINIONS | Tel: +1 419 534 7349 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My beeper works something like that. If you call it and punch in a number, then I get the number on the display screen. If you don't punch in a number but just leave a voice message then it still beeps me but displays the number of itself. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 23:40:49 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: 206 to 360 Experience Regarding the person whose calls to area code 360 wind up in her own company's voicemail boxes ... How does she dial calls to: 1. long distance points (originating at the company, right?); 2. mailboxes within the company? ------------------------------ From: whuffman@ix.netcom.com (Wayne Huffman) Subject: Re: Distinctive Ringing Specifications Date: 17 Jan 1995 23:44:03 GMT Organization: Netcom In vlai@wimsey.com (Vincent Lai) writes: > Does anybody know how to get the specifications for distinctive > ringing in USA and Canada? Any help is appreciated. As I recall, Distinctive ringing is (was) called Multiple Directory Numbers per Line with Distinctive Ringing - MDNL/DR in the AT&T 5ESS Switch documentation. This may help someone researching this. (I used to be a 5ESS switch tech in an AT&T Digital CO). Wayne Huffman ------------------------------ From: Brenner@mars.superlink.net (Brenner) Subject: Re: General Datacom ATM Switches Sign Deal With Siemens Date: 17 Jan 1995 14:34:09 GMT Organization: SuperNet Inc. MCI announced that it would be using GDC ATM switches. I'm not _positive_, but I think AT&T is using its own GlobeView 2000 switch. Brenner ------------------------------ From: whuffman@ix.netcom.com (Wayne Huffman) Subject: Re: Long Distance Blocking, was Re: Old Rotary Service Question Date: 18 Jan 1995 00:32:49 GMT Organization: Netcom In dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) writes: > b) There was often also a current reversal when calling the operator > or some other telco numbers. But local calls would go through ok. As I recall, this was also used as a method to return coins at a coin telephone when calling a (then) "free" nomber such as 411, "0" operator, and the telephone company business office. My mom used to be the cord- board (!) operator at the local Ma Bell business office, and I would call her at work and get my dime (later quarter) back when the local CO would reverse the current momentarily. Ah, memories! Wayne Huffman ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 09:37:15 JST From: plr@ichigo.os.nasu.toshiba.co.jp (Peter Leif Rasmussen) Subject: Re: Horrible Eartquake in Japan Yes, it was an eartquake of quite some magnitude, but you have got a few figures a little wrong. The last count I saw with the number of dead poeple were around 1500, so if you skip a zero in your "170,000 people have died" then it looks more realistic. It will probably go over 2000 when they have finished their clean up. I don't know if it is the worst quake in over a hundred years in Japan, but maybe in the area called Kansai in Japan (with Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe). I think the earthquake in Tokyo in 1923 are considered to be worse (I don't remember the figures) and then many thousans died, not so much because of bulidings crashing, but more because of the burning down of the (woodden) houses. I don't live in the area, but 500km away from it, however even here they were able to measure it. All TV stations only had one program yesterday: The Earthquake. I think the quake is comparable to the one in Los Angeles some time ago, but I think also this time the burning down of buildings will be bad, because of the little (and expensive) space, they are built very close. That is all I have, but somebody living closer might have more details? Peter Rasmussen [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Regards the increasing death count, on the television news tonight it was over 1800. Having the buildings as close together as they are does not help, and as you point out it makes the fires even worse. A couple months ago here in Chicago we had an entire city block burn down. About a dozen buildings were involved which are built very close together (just perhaps five feet of space between each of them) combined with extremely strong winds. As the burning embers flew through the air they landed on rooftops up and down that block; a couple buildings on the other side of the street also caught fire as a result. PAT] ------------------------------ From: matthew@cix.compulink.co.uk (Matthew Richardson) Subject: Re: GSM Cellular Operators List Organization: I.T. Consultancy Limited, Jersey Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 19:31:14 GMT Another one for the list:- Jersey Telecoms Jersey (obviously!) Channel Islands British Isles The service went live in December, 1994. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 18:40:12 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: How to Find Your Number The 800-MY-ANI-IS number proved to be useful to me in some stretches of travel where I was making an AT&T call at virtually every exchange I passed through. I encountered numerous cases where no number was displayed on the telephone. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 12:55:04 -0500 From: CTHOMASSON@aol.com Subject: Re: 500 Number Assignments In Vol. 14, issue 459 bkron@netcom.com provided a list of the 500 number assignments by company. What was the effective date of the list and is there an updated version available? Carter Thomasson Intercontinental Telecommunications ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 16:53:35 PST From: Kronos Subject: Re: 500 Number Assignments CTHOMASSON@aol.com wrote: > In Vol. 14, issue 459 bkron@netcom.com provided a list of the 500 number > assignments by company. What was the effective date of the list and is there > an updated version available ? That data was effective 12/1/94 and there have been no modification to the assignments as of this date (1/17/95). ------------------------------ From: thompson@robin.tezcat.com (Bob Thompson) Subject: Re: AT&T Enters Rochester NY Local Telephone Market Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 08:24:17 CST Organization: Tezcat.COM, Chicago In article wegeng.XKeys@xerox.com writes: > Several recent messages to the Digest have discussed the recent > changes to the local telephone service regulations that allow for > competition in the Rochester, Ny telephone market. The January 10, > 1995 edition of the {Rochester Democrat & Chronicle} contains a full > page ad from AT&T advertising that they are entering this market. For > fun, I called the toll free number contained in the ad (1 800 716- 4ATT) > to learn more about what AT&T is offering. > The AT&T rep didn`t know what the rates would be after the three > month period, but suggested thay they would remain competitive. > AT&T is offering most of the advanced services that Rochester Telephone > offers, with voice mail being the most asked for missing service (again > all of this is implemented by Rochester Tel and resold by AT&T). I > also learned that there is no sign up fee through March 31. Don -- well, let me tell you what ATT did to us here in the Chicago market. They began offering service (accessed by 10288) for longer intra-lata calls (over eight miles, which are timed calls here, less than eight being untimed). They advertised the hell out of it -- cheaper than Ameritech (formerly Illinois Bell), they advertised. And it was. 15- mile calls were (these are from memory but fairly accurate) around 1 to 1.5 cents/minute, vs Ameritech at 1.5 to 2.0 cents (depending on day and time). Then, three months later (December) the rates changed. No ads, no announcements. Seven cents/minute now -- roughly three times the Ameritech rates. It turns out the low rates were "temporary, introductory rates." Talk about bait and switch. This is hook and switch! A fair number of businesses had programmed their systems to automatically add the 10288 dial string. And they didn't find out about the change, often, till the new bills were processed, perhaps after six to eight weeks of úÿ paying higher rates. So, if you switch to ATT for local service, watch what they do to you. OTOH, we still go ATT for interstate long distance. /bob/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even though AT&T did not advertise their increase in rates, Illinois Bell made sure to let everyone know about the changes. Did you see the ads run by Ameritech (IBT) saying 'AT&T has such a deal for you! They want you to pay 81 percent more for you local calls than we do ...' The ad went on to explain how the AT&T rates had increased after the short 'introductory' period. PAT] ------------------------------ From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) Subject: Re: Acronym for "Information Superhighway" Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 22:10:22 GMT > [ ... I guess now they will make things so miserable on the Internet > large numbers of people will drop out. PAT] ... calling it a cesspool and a dungheap as they do, Pat? Mark Brader, msb@sq.com | "Those who mourn for 'USENET like it was' should SoftQuad Inc. | remember the original design estimates of maximum Toronto | traffic volume: 2 articles/day" -- Steven Bellovin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Wait a minute! *I* invented the 'cesspool and dungheap' descriptions. If other people want to use those, they are going to have to pay me royalties. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Kimmo.Ketolainen@utu.fi (Kimmo Ketolainen) Subject: Re: GSM Cellular Operators List Organization: Turun yliopisto - University of Turku, Turku, Finland Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 03:01:08 GMT > Estonia EMT New: Estonia=09=09Radiolinja > Hong Kong Smartone Also: Hong Kong=09Telecom CSL Kimmo Ketolainen University of Turku home +358 21 237 8227 Kimmo.Ketolainen@utu.fi shoe +358 40 500 2957 FIN-20540 Turku http://www.utu.fi/finland.html work +358 21 262 1496 ------------------------------ From: roodh@dds.nl (Hendrik Rood) Subject: Re: Address Wanted For KPN Date: 17 Jan 1995 04:15:29 GMT Organization: Hendrik's Humble Home Hero In article , k920672@kingston.ac.uk (Stephen Warner) says: > Can someone tell me the smail address of KPN, a Dutch Telecoms Company? PTT Telecom Netherlands is the telecom-division of KPN (the others are a mail division and a multimedia division). It can be reached at: PTT Telecom Netherlands P.O. Box 30150 2500 GD The Hague The Netherlands. I suggest you write the IEB (Dutch abbreviation for internal and external affairs) Department. Hendrik Rood PTT Telecom Network Services Switched Services department. ------------------------------ From: stud@icicle.winternet.com (Mark Stieger) Subject: Digital Cellular Phones Date: 13 Jan 95 10:49:24 GMT Organization: StarNet Communications, Inc I'm looking at getting a Motorola Digital cell phone (Micro Digital model) and was wondering if anyone on here had expierience with it, specs on it, technical info, etc. Also, does it use the same accessories as the standard Motorola flip phones? Also, are there any places that sell it via mail unactivated for a decent price? they want $699 for it here. Thanks, Mark ------------------------------ From: chrisd@blazers.com Subject: PBX Information Needed Date: 17 Jan 1995 23:37:06 GMT Organization: Portland Trail Blazers Inc I am at present evaluating the AT&T 3gi PBX as well as the NT 61c. Anybody have any good information on these systems to help me with my decision. ------------------------------ From: edg@ocn.com (Ed Goldgehn) Subject: Re: LD ISDN Service Date: 17 Jan 1995 06:29:08 GMT Organization: The INTERNET Connection, LLC In article , john@katy.com says... > At long last, Southwestern Bell is offering ISDN service in St. Louis. > We need to select a LD company, our current carrier LDDS says they > don't offer it. Any recommendations from the crowd? What LDDS is saying is that they don't have SS7 signaling in your area for data calls. Where are you going to be calling with your ISDN line? IMHO, you're better off with either AT&T or MCI for overall deployment reasons. Ed Goldgehn E-Mail: edg@ocn.com Sr. Vice President Voice: (404) 919-1561 Open Communication Networks, Inc. Fax: (404) 919-1568 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 11:19:13 +0100 From: jean@xs4all.nl (Jean BSarrazin) Subject: Re: Address Wanted For KPN I have the address for the Amsterdam District office: La Guardiaweg 5 1043 DE Amsterdam The Netherlands. Although recently privatized, KPN still suffers from the Dutch bureaucracy syndrome -- in other words, you may have to make a few phone calls there before getting an answer. Their phone is +31 20 484 8484. Jean B Sarrazin Ekkosys Communications BV Amsterdam ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jan 95 17:46:09 EST From: Carl Moore Subject: Zombie Voice on COCOTS Does anyone know what I am talking about when I describe a voice frequently heard on COCOTS (saying things like "thank you", "please wait", "this is not a valid number", etc.) as female and "zombie"? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I certainly do. 'Please deposit thirty five cents' is my favorite of the zombie's instructions. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter) Subject: Re: About the GIF Incident and Substitutes Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 00:06:53 GMT In article Paul Robinson writes: > With the recent problems over the use of Unisys patented LZW > compression in GIF files, there has been suggested people switch to > JPEG format. Then someone else pointed out that IBM has a patent on > the compression format that uses. > Aparently both are the same algorithm. David Winfrey > points out that the information on this is in rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/ > news.answers/compression-faq/part[1-3]. They are not the same. GIF uses LZW, patented by Unisys; JPEG uses arithmetic coding, patented by IBM. But JPEG also allows Huffman coding which is used by most generally available JPEG software. (BTW, actually LZW is also patented by IBM to make it more confusing.) dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924098 home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; e-mail: dik@cwi.nl ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (CID Tech/INSG) Subject: Re: Mail Order Outlet For Cellular Batteries Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 03:42:33 PST On 4 Jan 95 03:54:48 GMT, robbie@hermes.dciem.dnd.ca (G. Robert Arrabito) wrote: > I'm looking for a mail order outlet in either Canada or the U.S. which > carries NMH batteries for my Motorola cellular phone. Can anyone suggest > good, reliable companies? It took me a while to dig out the info, but we've ordered from Cellular Products Distributors in LA. We never bought NMH from them (yet), but I've seen some offered there at rather good prices. (Nothing for my Audiovox Ultravox [the smallest one] -- anyone know of a good source for these rather unusual NMH batteries?) Their info is: Cellular Products Distributors 1616 Contner Ave Los Angeles, CA, 90025 (800) 654-3050 (800) 443-9889 (CA) (310) 312-0778 (310) 473-7782 (Fax) Doug Reuben dreuben@netcom.com/dreuben@interpage.net (203) 499 - 5221 CID Technologies*Interpage(TM) E-Mail/Internet Paging and Fax Services ------------------------------ From: norbert@PrimeNet.Com Subject: Need Phone Numbers for Consumer Telephone Equipment Companies Date: 18 Jan 1995 00:18:24 GMT Organization: Primenet I would appreciate telephone numbers for any mail order companies which concentrate on telephone equipment including equipment for the general consumer market. Also any comments based on experience with these companies regarding service and pricing would be appreciated. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When this comes up, as it does quite often, the one standard recommendation I always make is to contact 'Hello Direct' for a copy of their catalog. Call 1-800-HI-HELLO. Gee, I wish those folks were sponsors of this Digest; I talk about them often enough some have already accused me of getting paid by them! I don't though ... its just that they have pretty good stuff. My other suggestion is to not forget Radio Shack. 1-800-THE-SHACK will get you on their mailing list. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #40 *****************************