TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Jan 95 22:09:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 49 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson North Korea Holds US Representative Over $10K Phone Bill (Paul Robinson) Conference/Class/Training on Switching Technology? (shah@wg.com) Inslaw and the United States Justice Department (Paul Robinson) Remote Monitoring With Pagers (Cliff Scheller) Looking for Fax-Related URLs (George Pajari) Considering Purchasing an IVR System From InterVoice (Steve Samler) TNPP Standard Wanted (Marty Lawlor) CID Question (Stan Schwartz) Re: Programmable Touch-Tone Interpreter Needed (Paul A. Lee) Re: Small Business PBX/Fax Back Server Needed (Paul A. Lee) Flat Rate LD? (John McDermott) Information Needed on Cebit (Mat Watkins) Format of Telephone Number/Fax Numbers in Germany, France, UK (Tom Barrett) Re: Attention: 800 Number Subscribers (News Alert) (Judith Oppenheimer) 91x (was: 911 Providers: Watch For 912 Calls) (Carl Moore) Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto (Michael King) Re: Looking up Addresses and Numbers From Just Names (Wes Leatherock) Re: T1BBS Gone? (Jim Burkitt) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 14:46:30 EST From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Subject: North Korea Holds US Representative Over $10K Phone Bill In Jack Anderson's column today, he reports that when Representative Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico) tried to cross the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between North and South Korea, with the casket carrying the remains of Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, North Korean officials refused to let him cross until the bill was paid. In Cash. "Although North Korea remains stauchly Communist, it showed a decidedly capialistic streak when it came to the phone bill." Anderson's column reports. The U.S. Military and State Department gathered money from government funds to pay the bill. Because American companies are prohibited from doing business there, no telephone connections exist between the US and North Korea, so the 23 calls Richardson made to the State Department and to families of the two pilots in the downed aircraft had to be relayed throgh Canada at significant expense. It is known the calls had to be made on nonsecure phone lines and were almost certainly recorded by the North Koreans. New trade agreements will allow phone links to be opened by the end of the month. Richardson's involvement in the incident was a fortunate coincidence as he was there to discuss the issue of North Korean posession of Nuclear Weapons. His intervention is also credited in preventing copilot Bobby Hill from suffering starvation, beating and torture, and in helping to secure his release. $10,000 is about eight times North Korea's per capita yearly income. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They don't need any collection agencies over there do they? Just keep the people there until they pay their bills. Remind me not to go visit there anytime soon! I would never get back home. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shah@wg.com Subject: Conference/Class/Training on Switching Technology? Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 14:26:02 PDT Organization: Wandel & Goltermann Technologies Folks, I am looking for a training/conference/formal class on switching technology. If any of you know of some good place -- PLEASE let me know directly as I don't read this newsgroup too often. The main focus is on learning what/how/who/testing of the switching technology. This may involve either a general overview or specific to Ethernet or Token Ring or ATM etc. Thank you, Ajay (shah@wg.com) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 20:39:05 EST From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Subject: Inslaw and the United States Justice Department [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This was sent to Paul, and he is passing it along to us. Nothing new here, we discussed this a couple years ago in the Digest. PAT] > I cought the end of an NPR story on Inslaw. I thought this would > be the place to find out about it. The story was a little shocking > to say the least. Had Big-Bro stamped on it. Inslaw was the name of a company that developed a computer program called Promis, to manage caselaw for the Department of Justice until, in the words of a Bankruptcy Court Judge, "The Department of Justice used its ability to withhold payments in a deliberate effort to drive Inslaw into bankruptcy, and to steal the Promis software from Inslaw." Another court discarded the bankruptcy court's decision saying it lacked the power to impose punitive damages for driving someone into bankruptcy. A reporter was investigating this issue, when he was found dead in a motel room in West Virginia, under suspicious circumstances, which the local police conveniently called 'suicide'. This is the same organization that is supposed to investigate allegations of unauthorized possession of copyrighted software, that is itself believed to be the largest pirator of software in the government. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh sure, we knew this. The US Department of Justice is one of the most corrupt organizations anywhere. Pirated software, murders labeled 'suicide', bribery, its all routine for 'Justice', an oddly named organization if there ever was one. We discussed the Inslaw matter here about two years ago. Another of their gimmicks reminds me of the late J. Edgar Hoover, for many years director of the FBI: A closet homosexual, he found out which other top government executives were the 'same way' and then he blackmailed them; threatened them with exposure if they did not run things the way he liked. Today's Justice Department is much the same. For instance, for how many ever years it was known in certain circles that a federal judge -- a black judge in fact, but I won't say his name, why bother now -- was a pedophile. One day investigators snooping around in the judge's chambers found enough evidence to send the judge away to prison for a long time; i.e. kiddy porn stuff. Instead a 'key Justice Department person' (at the time, several years ago) sat down and had a chat with the judge. For years after that, anytime the department had a pornography through the mail case or they wanted to prosecute on interstate pornography charges, or violations of the Mann Act or similar, guess which judge always somehow got the cases assigned to him. Guess how he always ruled. The IRS operates the same way. They find a federal judge who himself was -- to put it kindly -- lax and careless about properly paying his own taxes. They have a little chat, and then they use that judge for all their 'tax resistor' cases. Not bad, huh! PAT] ------------------------------ From: cliffsch@netcom.com (Cliff Scheller) Subject: Remote Monitoring With Pagers Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 21:20:55 GMT Did you know that a PBX can send text messages to any Alpha Pager? ( ...alot of your other equipment can, too!) AlphaSense is a standalone electronic product which is easily connected to many different types of equipment or machinery to provide an unattended monitoring function. When user-specified conditions occur, it automatically creates and delivers text messages to any alpha pager(s). A trusted resource in many industries, it can also _selectively forward_ data from your computerized or other automation devices to people's pagers. Use it to monitor PBX's, CSU's, network servers, fire panels, HVAC systems, water levels, machine operation, security systems, etc. Internal "UPS" gives continued operation if power fails. Eight sensor inputs, power fail/restore monitoring & self-test messages. Plus, its RS-232 serial port connects to printers, computers and other automation equipment. AlphaSense will monitor data streams, watching for user-specified keywords. When received, they "trigger" AlphaSense, and it can then forward data directly from your data source to Pagers! Forward error messages, email, instructions, financial data, etc. Dial-back mode for remote teleservice use, activity history log and many other features! For more info, send email to compuquest-request@netcom.com with only these two lines as the message body: SEND ASINFO ...or ftp to: ftp.netcom.com, in directory /ftp/pub/cl/cliffsch ------------------------------ From: pajari@Faximum.COM (George Pajari) Subject: Looking for Fax-Related URLs Reply-To: faxfaq@Faximum.COM (FAQ Comments) Organization: Faximum Software, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 21:35:32 GMT The FAQ for comp.dcom.fax is currently being rewritten in HTML and will shortly be available for Web browsing. To assist with this it would be appreciated if readers could forward to faxfaq@faximum.com any interesting fax or telco related URLs for inclusion in the "hyperFAQ". I am particularly interested in Home Pages and FTP sites for vendors of modems, fax boards, fax equipment, and fax software. Your assistance is much appreciated. (Should you wish to browse the current, flat text version of the fax FAQ, please see ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/fax- faq/part1 and part2.) Regards, pajari@Faximum.COM -*- Editor of the comp.dcom.fax FAQ George Pajari / Faximum Software / Tel: +1 (604) 925-3600 / Fax: ... 926-8182 1497 Marine Drive, Suite 300 / West Vancouver, BC / Canada V7T 1B8 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:17:01 EST From: Steve Samler Subject: Considering Purchasing an IVR System From InterVoice Does anyone have any experience with these people (good, bad or indifferent)? Has anyone negotiated a price with these folks recently? How far can I push them on price? ------------------------------ From: Marty Lawlor Subject: TNPP Standard Wanted Organization: Northern Telecom Inc., D&OS Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:35:23 GMT I have been unsuccessful locating a copy of the Telocator Network Paging Protocol (TNPP) standard or specification. I believe it is issued by POCSAG (Post Office Code Standards Advisory Group). This may be a British organization. I've called several standards jobbers (e.g., IHS) to no avail, and my calls to Telocator: The Personal Communications Industry Assn have gone unanswered. This appears to be an ubiquitous (and, at least, American) de facto standard for sending and receiving paging messages. Any help in locating this would be greatly appreciated. Marty Lawlor Northern Telecom TEL: 716-654-2422 NET: mel@cci.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:58:40 EST From: Stan Schwartz Subject: CID Question I have recently begun using TotalTel as a secondary LD carrier (by signing up for secondary service and a calling card). They had to add all the lines that I wanted to be able to access their service (by using the 10081 prefix) before I was able to use them as a secondary carrier. One of the lines I added is in the 516-752 exchange, which has not been upgraded for CLASS (NYNEX PhoneSmart) services. Local (seven-digit) calls from this number to CID-enabled areas of the LATA return "OUT OF AREA" on the box on the receiving end. HOWEVER ... if I dial 10081 + NPA + NXX + XXXX, the call is completed with CID information provided at the receiving end! Any ideas on what they are doing here? On their 800 service, TotalTel also seems to translate the ANI of the calling party and delivers it as CID information on the receiving end. When I use their 800-number-access calling card, they also transmit the ANI of the phone I'm calling from to CID at the other end. Kind of neat, if you ask me! Any thoughts on this? Stan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:27:47 -0500 From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Programmable Touch-Tone Interpreter Needed In TELECOM Digest Volume 15 Issue 33, Jeffrey A. Porten wrote (in part): > I need help in coming up with a solution for a client. She wants to > provide her incoming callers with a automated system that will allow > them to schedule time with her by using a touch-tone phone, similar to > the system that Amtrak uses to tell people about the trains closest to > their selected travel time. This is a description of 'classic' DTMF-driven interactive voice response (IVR). Depending on the intricacy of the application(s), the call volume to be handled, and the number of lines coming in, IVR can run on anything from a $300 board in a PC up to large, proprietary, multiprocessor boxes. There are literally hundreds of manufacturers, integrators, software developers, and VARs that do this for a living. Give some more details on what call volume needs to be handled, what environment the system must operate in, and what kind of budget you're working with, and I should be able to point you in the right direction. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET <=PREFERRED ADDRESS* ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:28:22 -0500 From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Small Business PBX/Fax Back Server Needed In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 Issue 43, Jon Zeeff wrote (in part): > I'm looking for a PBX/Fax back/voice mail system that would do the > following: úÿ > Connect to approx 4 POTS lines for incoming calls and have various > facilities when you call in. > The more flexible and programmable, the better. Check out the Dash Open Phone System. Dash is in Lenexa, KS; voice phone is 800-844-7620 and Faxback is 913 888-7902. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET <=PREFERRED ADDRESS* ------------------------------ From: jjm@usa.net (John McDermott/J-K International Limited) Subject: Flat Rate LD? Date: 19 Jan 1995 12:23:07 -0700 Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) In another newsgroup I recently saw an ad for US$149 for all the Long Distance I could use in a month. That could be a lot if I used it for an Internet connection ... are such offers legit? Does anyone use such a service, particularly for modem calls? I know that "If it sounds too good to be true ...", but I have seen things like this before, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks, john jjm@jkintl.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That particular offer which you saw in 'another newsgroup' was very questionable. There were a number of eyebrows raised partly because of things to do with how payment was to be tendered each month, etc. You used to be able to get flat rate packages for WATS and IN-WATS from AT&T a number of years ago. You bought a certain number of hours per month at a set price, but it did not come in the range of $149.00. Maybe AT&T still sells WATS in blocks of time, I don't know. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mat Watkins Subject: Information Needed on Cebit Date: 19 Jan 1995 19:47:30 GMT Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand. Hi all, I am wanting to go to Cebit this year. I have found out that it starts on 8th March in Hanover but do not have any information on registration etc. Can anyboby help? Thanks in advance. Regards, Matt Victoria University of Wellington ------------------------------ From: tjbarre@srv.PacBell.COM (Tom Barrett) Subject: Format of Telephone Number/Fax Numbers in Germany, France, UK Date: 19 Jan 1995 20:50:47 GMT Organization: Pacific * Bell I've been asked about the format of telephone numbers and fax numbers in the three countries above ... specifically if fax numbers in these countries have different numbers of digits than a phone number in the same locale? Thanks in advance for any assistance, tjb ------------------------------ From: producer@pipeline.com (Judith Oppenheimer) Subject: Re: Attention: 800 Number Subscribers (News Alert) Date: 19 Jan 1995 11:49:22 -0500 Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM) cmylod@nl.oracle.com (Colum Mylod) wrote: > Dik.Winter@cwi.nl wrote: >> Why would any European customer wish numbers like 800 THE CARD, unless >> they expect most of their traffic from the US? >> In Europe letters are *not* used. And when they were used assignment >> was not identical to the US assignment. See the Telecom Archives for >> an article were I gave some European assignments. > Ah but Dik, British Telecom intends to reintroduce letters in phone > numbers (they've been on various phone units for a long while -- > imports mainly). Even in non-English Europe you'll see them back if > for no other reason than introducing variety in freephone numbers. > Currently a lot of European (monopoly) telcos issue patterned numbers > like 123456 or 876 876 etc. Having letters ups the 'saleable" > freephone number combinations. Remember, too, that international freephone numbers will *co-exist* with domestic toll-free numbers in the U.S.. So there will be 1 800 FLOWERS, and 011 800 FLOWERS, both of which can be called and advertised within the United States, but which may reach competing companies! (If not for European interest in these opportunities, grandfathering of U.S. numbers would not even be an issue.) If the U.S. position, and U.S. Users Group Position, of grandfathering existing U.S. 800 numbers is not aggressively supported by U.S. 800 subscribers, these companies will find they have a 50-50 chance of winning -- or losing -- their branded number to a lottery, and competition for the same customers and marketshare in the U.S., and abroad. > According to a brief glimpse I got at uk.telecom (is this available > via listserv anyone?), BT will use the same letters-numbers pattern as > the Bell one but with Z added to the 9 key and Q on 0 The Q goes on the 7. The Z goes on the 9. Judith Oppenheimer, Producer@Pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 23:19:09 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: 91x (was: 911 Providers: Watch For 912 Calls) sewilco@fieldday.mn.org (Scot E. Wilcoxon) writes: > As has been reported before, some older switches will connect to 911 > when "91x" is dialed. What areas would have this? Did this definition of 91x have to be removed (except for 911) from some switches to accommodate N0X/N1X prefixes? From what you have given me, I take it this problem might still have to be considered in some places, even with area codes now generalized. Also, some area codes used the now-obsolete method of "area code + seven digits" (no leading 1) to make long distance calls, and I take it the above-mentioned switches did not occur in such areas. (For example, 912-xxx-xxxx would have been used for calls to area 912 in Georgia, and then 912 could not go to emergency services, barring some messy timeout feature.) ------------------------------ From: an904@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael King) Subject: Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto Date: 20 Jan 1995 02:24:13 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: an904@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael King) In a previous article, cmoore@ARL.MIL (Carl Moore) says: > So you were able to get a Seattle number from 360 directory assistance. > Maybe 360-555-1212 is at least temporarily being routed identically to > 206-555-1212. As of this evening (Thursday 1/19), only AC 334 was dialable from both metro Atlanta (western 'burbs) and within the city of Atlanta proper. Neither 360 nor 630 is accessable -- I get a "you do not need an area code" message from here for both area codes when trying to get directory assistance. Michael King -- General Manager WIGO/AM - Atlanta Morning Talk Show Host & Chief Cook & Bottle Washer ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 20:03:15 Subject: Re: Looking up Addresses and Phone Number From Just Names Quoting timb@europa.com (Tim Bach): > I have a bunch of names I need addresses and phone numbers to. > They are all mostly in the same local calling area. Is there a > service or product I can buy that will allow me to take a ASCII > file of names and have it try and lookup the addresses plus > phone numbers? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't know how many you think > is a 'bunch', but unless it is really a lot, and you plan to do > this on a frequent basis, why don't you ask the telco serving > the local calling area for a copy of their directory. Most > telcos will send it free of charge, or they may get some small > handling/postage fee. Then you would sit there and look them up. > After you have found all you can, then call AC-555-1212 for the > (hopefully) few remaining names. PAT] I would respectfully suggest that most telephone companies will NOT give or send a directory free of charge; they haven't usually done so since divestiture. A biproduct, however, has been telephone directories on microfiche. I believe these were probably started -- or at least became popular -- when telephone companies stopped providing directories at no charge to libraries. The Oklahoma City Public Library used to have a very extensive library of telephone directories from throughout the United States and Canada, and pretty extensive coverage of the rest of the world. They don't have those now, of course, since they can't afford what it would cost (many thousand of dollars a month keeping them up to date). But they do have telephone directories from the United States on microfiche, put out by a firm called University Microfilms, Inc., which I believe produces all kinds of useful microfiche. The telephone directories on microfiche are available to all users of the library at no charge, just like other materials, and cover most of the United States (with the exception of some GTE exchanges like the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area). Probably your library has those, too, and it would be quicker and less hassle just to look them up there, unless your "bunch" is really a huge number. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu wes.leatherock@f2001.n147.z1.fidonet.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Chicago Public Library has over a hundred years of telephone directories from Chicago on microfilm put out by the company you mentioned, University Microfilms of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I don't know what connection they have with the University of Michigan, if any. They also have the Haines Crisscross Directories for Chicago going back about 40 years, and these can be very useful tools when looking for people who were around long ago. CPL has all the suburban phone books going back about 50-60 years also, both from Illinois Bell and its predecessor Chicago Telephone Company as well as Centel (which long ago was known as Central States Telephone Company.) There used to be a publication called the 'Chicago City Directory' and they have quite a few of those also from the past. Unfortunatly the City Directory ceased publication in 1921. They have the actual 1921 book, but the years prior to that are on microfilm. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 1995 15:26:15 GMT From: JIM BURKIT Subject: Re: T1BBS Gone? Mark Fraser asked: > Pat: > It's been a while since I last tried, but both of the net addresses > 192.187.216.5 and ....3 don't return a ping, nor respond to telnet/ftp > respectively. Likewise, phone calls to the previously published modem > numbers don't give much satisfaction. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I'm afraid I cannot be much help > on this personally. Maybe others have the answer. PAT] The Committee T1 BBS moved in October 1994. I guess Pat doesn't remember all the articles that he publishes as he did publish one notice of the move. When T1BBS was moved a number of improvements were made. The biggest one was upgrading from 9.6 Kb to 56 Kb internet access. T1BBS is a BBS that committee T1 uses to help it develop standards. Anyone that has a interest in the Telecommunications standards that we develop is allowed to use the system. The primary system uses PCBoard software with a mirrored unix ftp site. You can access the system by: modem +1 202-639-4469 telnet telnet.t1.org ftp ftp.t1.org www www.t1.org (under construction) The system operator can be reached at sysop@t1.org. Note in the above site names that the number 1 is used not the letter l. I hope this helps. Jim Burkitt T1X1 Chair [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, unfortunatly I cannot nearly begin to remember all the articles which are published here unless I use the index to search through the titles, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #49 ***************************** ÿ@FROM :telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Message-ID: <9501200409.AA21300@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> From telecom-request@delta.eecs.nwu.edu Fri Jan 20 00:18:59 1995 Received: from delta.eecs.nwu.edu (delta.eecs.nwu.edu [129.105.5.103]) by coyote.channel1.com (8.6.9/8.6.4) with SMTP id AAA19745; Fri, 20 Jan 1995 00:18:59 -0500 Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21307; Thu, 19 Jan 95 22:09:08 CST Received: by delta.eecs.nwu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0-proxy) id AA21300; Thu, 19 Jan 95 22:09:03 CST Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 22:09:03 CST From: telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest (Patrick Townson)) Message-Id: <9501200409.AA21300@delta.eecs.nwu.edu> To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V15 #49 TELECOM Digest Thu, 19 Jan 95 22:09:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 49 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson North Korea Holds US Representative Over $10K Phone Bill (Paul Robinson) Conference/Class/Training on Switching Technology? (shah@wg.com) Inslaw and the United States Justice Department (Paul Robinson) Remote Monitoring With Pagers (Cliff Scheller) Looking for Fax-Related URLs (George Pajari) Considering Purchasing an IVR System From InterVoice (Steve Samler) TNPP Standard Wanted (Marty Lawlor) CID Question (Stan Schwartz) Re: Programmable Touch-Tone Interpreter Needed (Paul A. Lee) Re: Small Business PBX/Fax Back Server Needed (Paul A. Lee) Flat Rate LD? (John McDermott) Information Needed on Cebit (Mat Watkins) Format of Telephone Number/Fax Numbers in Germany, France, UK (Tom Barrett) Re: Attention: 800 Number Subscribers (News Alert) (Judith Oppenheimer) 91x (was: 911 Providers: Watch For 912 Calls) (Carl Moore) Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto (Michael King) Re: Looking up Addresses and Numbers From Just Names (Wes Leatherock) Re: T1BBS Gone? (Jim Burkitt) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 14:46:30 EST From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Subject: North Korea Holds US Representative Over $10K Phone Bill In Jack Anderson's column today, he reports that when Representative Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico) tried to cross the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between North and South Korea, with the casket carrying the remains of Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, North Korean officials refused to let him cross until the bill was paid. In Cash. "Although North Korea remains stauchly Communist, it showed a decidedly capialistic streak when it came to the phone bill." Anderson's column reports. The U.S. Military and State Department gathered money from government funds to pay the bill. Because American companies are prohibited from doing business there, no telephone connections exist between the US and North Korea, so the 23 calls Richardson made to the State Department and to families of the two pilots in the downed aircraft had to be relayed throgh Canada at significant expense. It is known the calls had to be made on nonsecure phone lines and were almost certainly recorded by the North Koreans. New trade agreements will allow phone links to be opened by the end of the month. Richardson's involvement in the incident was a fortunate coincidence as he was there to discuss the issue of North Korean posession of Nuclear Weapons. His intervention is also credited in preventing copilot Bobby Hill from suffering starvation, beating and torture, and in helping to secure his release. $10,000 is about eight times North Korea's per capita yearly income. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They don't need any collection agencies over there do they? Just keep the people there until they pay their bills. Remind me not to go visit there anytime soon! I would never get back home. PAT] ------------------------------ From: shah@wg.com Subject: Conference/Class/Training on Switching Technology? Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 14:26:02 PDT Organization: Wandel & Goltermann Technologies Folks, I am looking for a training/conference/formal class on switching technology. If any of you know of some good place -- PLEASE let me know directly as I don't read this newsgroup too often. The main focus is on learning what/how/who/testing of the switching technology. This may involve either a general overview or specific to Ethernet or Token Ring or ATM etc. Thank you, Ajay (shah@wg.com) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 20:39:05 EST From: Paul Robinson Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA Subject: Inslaw and the United States Justice Department [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This was sent to Paul, and he is passing it along to us. Nothing new here, we discussed this a couple years ago in the Digest. PAT] > I cought the end of an NPR story on Inslaw. I thought this would > be the place to find out about it. The story was a little shocking > to say the least. Had Big-Bro stamped on it. Inslaw was the name of a company that developed a computer program called Promis, to manage caselaw for the Department of Justice until, in the words of a Bankruptcy Court Judge, "The Department of Justice used its ability to withhold payments in a deliberate effort to drive Inslaw into bankruptcy, and to steal the Promis software from Inslaw." Another court discarded the bankruptcy court's decision saying it lacked the power to impose punitive damages for driving someone into bankruptcy. A reporter was investigating this issue, when he was found dead in a motel room in West Virginia, under suspicious circumstances, which the local police conveniently called 'suicide'. This is the same organization that is supposed to investigate allegations of unauthorized possession of copyrighted software, that is itself believed to be the largest pirator of software in the government. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Oh sure, we knew this. The US Department of Justice is one of the most corrupt organizations anywhere. Pirated software, murders labeled 'suicide', bribery, its all routine for 'Justice', an oddly named organization if there ever was one. We discussed the Inslaw matter here about two years ago. Another of their gimmicks reminds me of the late J. Edgar Hoover, for many years director of the FBI: A closet homosexual, he found out which other top government executives were the 'same way' and then he blackmailed them; threatened them with exposure if they did not run things the way he liked. Today's Justice Department is much the same. For instance, for how many ever years it was known in certain circles that a federal judge -- a black judge in fact, but I won't say his name, why bother now -- was a pedophile. One day investigators snooping around in the judge's chambers found enough evidence to send the judge away to prison for a long time; i.e. kiddy porn stuff. Instead a 'key Justice Department person' (at the time, several years ago) sat down and had a chat with the judge. For years after that, anytime the department had a pornography through the mail case or they wanted to prosecute on interstate pornography charges, or violations of the Mann Act or similar, guess which judge always somehow got the cases assigned to him. Guess how he always ruled. The IRS operates the same way. They find a federal judge who himself was -- to put it kindly -- lax and careless about properly paying his own taxes. They have a little chat, and then they use that judge for all their 'tax resistor' cases. Not bad, huh! PAT] ------------------------------ From: cliffsch@netcom.com (Cliff Scheller) Subject: Remote Monitoring With Pagers Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 21:20:55 GMT Did you know that a PBX can send text messages to any Alpha Pager? ( ...alot of your other equipment can, too!) AlphaSense is a standalone electronic product which is easily connected to many different types of equipment or machinery to provide an unattended monitoring function. When user-specified conditions occur, it automatically creates and delivers text messages to any alpha pager(s). A trusted resource in many industries, it can also _selectively forward_ data from your computerized or other automation devices to people's pagers. Use it to monitor PBX's, CSU's, network servers, fire panels, HVAC systems, water levels, machine operation, security systems, etc. Internal "UPS" gives continued operation if power fails. Eight sensor inputs, power fail/restore monitoring & self-test messages. Plus, its RS-232 serial port connects to printers, computers and other automation equipment. AlphaSense will monitor data streams, watching for user-specified keywords. When received, they "trigger" AlphaSense, and it can then forward data directly from your data source to Pagers! Forward error messages, email, instructions, financial data, etc. Dial-back mode for remote teleservice use, activity history log and many other features! For more info, send email to compuquest-request@netcom.com with only these two lines as the message body: SEND ASINFO ...or ftp to: ftp.netcom.com, in directory /ftp/pub/cl/cliffsch ------------------------------ From: pajari@Faximum.COM (George Pajari) Subject: Looking for Fax-Related URLs Reply-To: faxfaq@Faximum.COM (FAQ Comments) Organization: Faximum Software, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 21:35:32 GMT The FAQ for comp.dcom.fax is currently being rewritten in HTML and will shortly be available for Web browsing. To assist with this it would be appreciated if readers could forward to faxfaq@faximum.com any interesting fax or telco related URLs for inclusion in the "hyperFAQ". I am particularly interested in Home Pages and FTP sites for vendors of modems, fax boards, fax equipment, and fax software. Your assistance is much appreciated. (Should you wish to browse the current, flat text version of the fax FAQ, please see ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/fax- faq/part1 and part2.) Regards, pajari@Faximum.COM -*- Editor of the comp.dcom.fax FAQ George Pajari / Faximum Software / Tel: +1 (604) 925-3600 / Fax: ... 926-8182 1497 Marine Drive, Suite 300 / West Vancouver, BC / Canada V7T 1B8 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:17:01 EST From: Steve Samler Subject: Considering Purchasing an IVR System From InterVoice Does anyone have any experience with these people (good, bad or indifferent)? Has anyone negotiated a price with these folks recently? How far can I push them on price? ------------------------------ From: Marty Lawlor Subject: TNPP Standard Wanted Organization: Northern Telecom Inc., D&OS Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:35:23 GMT I have been unsuccessful locating a copy of the Telocator Network Paging Protocol (TNPP) standard or specification. I believe it is issued by POCSAG (Post Office Code Standards Advisory Group). This may be a British organization. I've called several standards jobbers (e.g., IHS) to no avail, and my calls to Telocator: The Personal Communications Industry Assn have gone unanswered. This appears to be an ubiquitous (and, at least, American) de facto standard for sending and receiving paging messages. Any help in locating this would be greatly appreciated. Marty Lawlor Northern Telecom TEL: 716-654-2422 NET: mel@cci.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:58:40 EST From: Stan Schwartz Subject: CID Question I have recently begun using TotalTel as a secondary LD carrier (by signing up for secondary service and a calling card). They had to add all the lines that I wanted to be able to access their service (by using the 10081 prefix) before I was able to use them as a secondary carrier. One of the lines I added is in the 516-752 exchange, which has not been upgraded for CLASS (NYNEX PhoneSmart) services. Local (seven-digit) calls from this number to CID-enabled areas of the LATA return "OUT OF AREA" on the box on the receiving end. HOWEVER ... if I dial 10081 + NPA + NXX + XXXX, the call is completed with CID information provided at the receiving end! Any ideas on what they are doing here? On their 800 service, TotalTel also seems to translate the ANI of the calling party and delivers it as CID information on the receiving end. When I use their 800-number-access calling card, they also transmit the ANI of the phone I'm calling from to CID at the other end. Kind of neat, if you ask me! Any thoughts on this? Stan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:27:47 -0500 From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Programmable Touch-Tone Interpreter Needed In TELECOM Digest Volume 15 Issue 33, Jeffrey A. Porten wrote (in part): > I need help in coming up with a solution for a client. She wants to > provide her incoming callers with a automated system that will allow > them to schedule time with her by using a touch-tone phone, similar to > the system that Amtrak uses to tell people about the trains closest to > their selected travel time. This is a description of 'classic' DTMF-driven interactive voice response (IVR). Depending on the intricacy of the application(s), the call volume to be handled, and the number of lines coming in, IVR can run on anything from a $300 board in a PC up to large, proprietary, multiprocessor boxes. There are literally hundreds of manufacturers, integrators, software developers, and VARs that do this for a living. Give some more details on what call volume needs to be handled, what environment the system must operate in, and what kind of budget you're working with, and I should be able to point you in the right direction. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET <=PREFERRED ADDRESS* ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:28:22 -0500 From: Paul A. Lee Organization: Woolworth Corporation Subject: Re: Small Business PBX/Fax Back Server Needed In TELECOM Digest Volume 14 Issue 43, Jon Zeeff wrote (in part): > I'm looking for a PBX/Fax back/voice mail system that would do the > following: úÿ > Connect to approx 4 POTS lines for incoming calls and have various > facilities when you call in. > The more flexible and programmable, the better. Check out the Dash Open Phone System. Dash is in Lenexa, KS; voice phone is 800-844-7620 and Faxback is 913 888-7902. Paul A. Lee Voice 414 357-1409 Telecommunications Analyst FAX 414 357-1450 Woolworth Corporation CompuServe 70353,566 INTERNET <=PREFERRED ADDRESS* ------------------------------ From: jjm@usa.net (John McDermott/J-K International Limited) Subject: Flat Rate LD? Date: 19 Jan 1995 12:23:07 -0700 Organization: Internet Express (800-592-1240 customer service) In another newsgroup I recently saw an ad for US$149 for all the Long Distance I could use in a month. That could be a lot if I used it for an Internet connection ... are such offers legit? Does anyone use such a service, particularly for modem calls? I know that "If it sounds too good to be true ...", but I have seen things like this before, so I thought I'd ask. Thanks, john jjm@jkintl.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That particular offer which you saw in 'another newsgroup' was very questionable. There were a number of eyebrows raised partly because of things to do with how payment was to be tendered each month, etc. You used to be able to get flat rate packages for WATS and IN-WATS from AT&T a number of years ago. You bought a certain number of hours per month at a set price, but it did not come in the range of $149.00. Maybe AT&T still sells WATS in blocks of time, I don't know. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mat Watkins Subject: Information Needed on Cebit Date: 19 Jan 1995 19:47:30 GMT Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand. Hi all, I am wanting to go to Cebit this year. I have found out that it starts on 8th March in Hanover but do not have any information on registration etc. Can anyboby help? Thanks in advance. Regards, Matt Victoria University of Wellington ------------------------------ From: tjbarre@srv.PacBell.COM (Tom Barrett) Subject: Format of Telephone Number/Fax Numbers in Germany, France, UK Date: 19 Jan 1995 20:50:47 GMT Organization: Pacific * Bell I've been asked about the format of telephone numbers and fax numbers in the three countries above ... specifically if fax numbers in these countries have different numbers of digits than a phone number in the same locale? Thanks in advance for any assistance, tjb ------------------------------ From: producer@pipeline.com (Judith Oppenheimer) Subject: Re: Attention: 800 Number Subscribers (News Alert) Date: 19 Jan 1995 11:49:22 -0500 Organization: Interactive CallBrand(TM) cmylod@nl.oracle.com (Colum Mylod) wrote: > Dik.Winter@cwi.nl wrote: >> Why would any European customer wish numbers like 800 THE CARD, unless >> they expect most of their traffic from the US? >> In Europe letters are *not* used. And when they were used assignment >> was not identical to the US assignment. See the Telecom Archives for >> an article were I gave some European assignments. > Ah but Dik, British Telecom intends to reintroduce letters in phone > numbers (they've been on various phone units for a long while -- > imports mainly). Even in non-English Europe you'll see them back if > for no other reason than introducing variety in freephone numbers. > Currently a lot of European (monopoly) telcos issue patterned numbers > like 123456 or 876 876 etc. Having letters ups the 'saleable" > freephone number combinations. Remember, too, that international freephone numbers will *co-exist* with domestic toll-free numbers in the U.S.. So there will be 1 800 FLOWERS, and 011 800 FLOWERS, both of which can be called and advertised within the United States, but which may reach competing companies! (If not for European interest in these opportunities, grandfathering of U.S. numbers would not even be an issue.) If the U.S. position, and U.S. Users Group Position, of grandfathering existing U.S. 800 numbers is not aggressively supported by U.S. 800 subscribers, these companies will find they have a 50-50 chance of winning -- or losing -- their branded number to a lottery, and competition for the same customers and marketshare in the U.S., and abroad. > According to a brief glimpse I got at uk.telecom (is this available > via listserv anyone?), BT will use the same letters-numbers pattern as > the Bell one but with Z added to the 9 key and Q on 0 The Q goes on the 7. The Z goes on the 9. Judith Oppenheimer, Producer@Pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 23:19:09 GMT From: Carl Moore Subject: 91x (was: 911 Providers: Watch For 912 Calls) sewilco@fieldday.mn.org (Scot E. Wilcoxon) writes: > As has been reported before, some older switches will connect to 911 > when "91x" is dialed. What areas would have this? Did this definition of 91x have to be removed (except for 911) from some switches to accommodate N0X/N1X prefixes? From what you have given me, I take it this problem might still have to be considered in some places, even with area codes now generalized. Also, some area codes used the now-obsolete method of "area code + seven digits" (no leading 1) to make long distance calls, and I take it the above-mentioned switches did not occur in such areas. (For example, 912-xxx-xxxx would have been used for calls to area 912 in Georgia, and then 912 could not go to emergency services, barring some messy timeout feature.) ------------------------------ From: an904@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael King) Subject: Re: New Area Codes Working From Toronto Date: 20 Jan 1995 02:24:13 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Reply-To: an904@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael King) In a previous article, cmoore@ARL.MIL (Carl Moore) says: > So you were able to get a Seattle number from 360 directory assistance. > Maybe 360-555-1212 is at least temporarily being routed identically to > 206-555-1212. As of this evening (Thursday 1/19), only AC 334 was dialable from both metro Atlanta (western 'burbs) and within the city of Atlanta proper. Neither 360 nor 630 is accessable -- I get a "you do not need an area code" message from here for both area codes when trying to get directory assistance. Michael King -- General Manager WIGO/AM - Atlanta Morning Talk Show Host & Chief Cook & Bottle Washer ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 20:03:15 Subject: Re: Looking up Addresses and Phone Number From Just Names Quoting timb@europa.com (Tim Bach): > I have a bunch of names I need addresses and phone numbers to. > They are all mostly in the same local calling area. Is there a > service or product I can buy that will allow me to take a ASCII > file of names and have it try and lookup the addresses plus > phone numbers? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't know how many you think > is a 'bunch', but unless it is really a lot, and you plan to do > this on a frequent basis, why don't you ask the telco serving > the local calling area for a copy of their directory. Most > telcos will send it free of charge, or they may get some small > handling/postage fee. Then you would sit there and look them up. > After you have found all you can, then call AC-555-1212 for the > (hopefully) few remaining names. PAT] I would respectfully suggest that most telephone companies will NOT give or send a directory free of charge; they haven't usually done so since divestiture. A biproduct, however, has been telephone directories on microfiche. I believe these were probably started -- or at least became popular -- when telephone companies stopped providing directories at no charge to libraries. The Oklahoma City Public Library used to have a very extensive library of telephone directories from throughout the United States and Canada, and pretty extensive coverage of the rest of the world. They don't have those now, of course, since they can't afford what it would cost (many thousand of dollars a month keeping them up to date). But they do have telephone directories from the United States on microfiche, put out by a firm called University Microfilms, Inc., which I believe produces all kinds of useful microfiche. The telephone directories on microfiche are available to all users of the library at no charge, just like other materials, and cover most of the United States (with the exception of some GTE exchanges like the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area). Probably your library has those, too, and it would be quicker and less hassle just to look them up there, unless your "bunch" is really a huge number. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu wes.leatherock@f2001.n147.z1.fidonet.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Chicago Public Library has over a hundred years of telephone directories from Chicago on microfilm put out by the company you mentioned, University Microfilms of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I don't know what connection they have with the University of Michigan, if any. They also have the Haines Crisscross Directories for Chicago going back about 40 years, and these can be very useful tools when looking for people who were around long ago. CPL has all the suburban phone books going back about 50-60 years also, both from Illinois Bell and its predecessor Chicago Telephone Company as well as Centel (which long ago was known as Central States Telephone Company.) There used to be a publication called the 'Chicago City Directory' and they have quite a few of those also from the past. Unfortunatly the City Directory ceased publication in 1921. They have the actual 1921 book, but the years prior to that are on microfilm. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Jan 1995 15:26:15 GMT From: JIM BURKIT Subject: Re: T1BBS Gone? Mark Fraser asked: > Pat: > It's been a while since I last tried, but both of the net addresses > 192.187.216.5 and ....3 don't return a ping, nor respond to telnet/ftp > respectively. Likewise, phone calls to the previously published modem > numbers don't give much satisfaction. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I'm afraid I cannot be much help > on this personally. Maybe others have the answer. PAT] The Committee T1 BBS moved in October 1994. I guess Pat doesn't remember all the articles that he publishes as he did publish one notice of the move. When T1BBS was moved a number of improvements were made. The biggest one was upgrading from 9.6 Kb to 56 Kb internet access. T1BBS is a BBS that committee T1 uses to help it develop standards. Anyone that has a interest in the Telecommunications standards that we develop is allowed to use the system. The primary system uses PCBoard software with a mirrored unix ftp site. You can access the system by: modem +1 202-639-4469 telnet telnet.t1.org ftp ftp.t1.org www www.t1.org (under construction) The system operator can be reached at sysop@t1.org. Note in the above site names that the number 1 is used not the letter l. I hope this helps. Jim Burkitt T1X1 Chair [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, unfortunatly I cannot nearly begin to remember all the articles which are published here unless I use the index to search through the titles, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #49 *****************************