TELECOM Digest Wed, 25 Jan 95 22:51:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 65 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money? (Dan J. Declerck) Corporate Creativity, was Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much is Real? (C. Jones) Re: Five Digit Phone Numbers (Linc Madison) Re: Freephone Forum vs. ITU Question (David Leibold) Re: Northern TeleCom Norstar Key System (sherim@delphi.com) Re: Internet Mail With Half the Address? (Ted Timar) Re: Help Needed With Displaying X Windows (Daniel R. Oelke) Re: Where to Find tpage? (John R. MacLeod) Re: Areas Covered by Phone Book (Wes Leatherock) Re: Radio Station Transmission Lines (Ron Kritzman) Re: GSM Cellular Operators List (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) 28.8k bps Modem (Victor Hu) What is an STD Coupler? (Richard Palmer) Re: Voice File Formats (Steve Rothkin) Re: Telephony Card/Software Needed (moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com) 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: declrckd@cig.mot.com (Dan J. Declerck) Subject: Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much of it is Real Money? Date: 25 Jan 1995 18:45:20 GMT Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group In article , Paul Robinson wrote: > Paul Barnett wrote me in response to my message: >> Paul Robinson said: >>> I'm going to raise an issue here because I think it relates to the >>> issue of why nothing beyond lip service seems to be done by carriers >>> about cellular fraud. >> I think you made some good points about the impact of cellular fraud, >> but I think you missed an important one (I didn't read real carefully, >> so the omission may be mine): >> Unlike software piracy, cellular bandwidth is a limited commodity. >> Every fraudulent call has the opportunity to block a legitimate call >> that would have resulted in some additional revenue. > I did make that point in part. Additionally, and if a particular > system is saturated, then some additional fraudulent unpaid traffic > might cause legitimate, paid traffic to not get through. >> Furthermore, there is the capital investment required to build and >> maintain the facilities to provide the additional increment of bandwidth >> used by fraudulent calls, in order to provide a satisfactory level of >> service to the legitimate subscribers. > Yes, but again, how much of the claimed losses are real chargebacks > and out of pocket costs, and how much of it is illusory lost profits > (some of which might never have occurred). > If someone who can't afford cellular service places fraudulent calls, > certainly the cellular company loses revenue and perhaps has out of > pocket costs, but those calls would never have been made, so the company > would never have received the revenue from it. Plain and simple ... ethically, there is NO difference between cellular fraud and calling card fraud. Both of them require the carrier to purchase additional equipment or potentially deny service to a paying customer. The carrier can't always eat the costs. EVERYBODY pays for cellular fraud. > About the only place where lost revenue might be a valid issue is for > people who use fraudulent time, not because they can't afford to use the > service, but because they cannot afford to have a particular call tracked > to a phone issued in their name, again typically because they are involved > in the manufacture and sale of unauthorized dried plant residues, and > referred to by police and prosecutors as drug dealers. > This was the point I probably should have made: that if the cellular > companies were actually getting hit for $1 million a day in settlements, > I find it likely that they would have pushed for encryption a long time > ago. What the $1 million figure probably represents is imaginary lost > profits from unbilled fraud, which is a whole different matter > altogether. It means that their overall profit margin is less, it does > not mean they are actually *out* any money. Businesses exist solely for the purpose of making a profit. BTW: the new digital systems (CDMA/TDMA, etc) will have much more robust authentication and encryption algorithms. This will be another reason to move to digital. > And this may be the reason cellular companies have essentially either > made customers eat most of the fraud, or barely done anything beyond lip > service to stop it. I wouldn't say they've done nothing. There exist many methods to combat fraud, but they cost money! Since they'll end up migrating to digital, which will probably fix the problem, why spend now?? Dan DeClerck EMAIL: declrckd@cig.mot.com Motorola Cellular APD Phone: (708) 632-4596 ------------------------------ From: cajones@Gateway.Uswnvg.COM (Carl Jones) Subject: Corporate Creativity, was Re: Cellular Fraud: How Much is Real? Date: 26 Jan 1995 00:59:51 GMT Organization: U S WEST NewVector Group, Inc. > Or even better ... These calls "would have been" at the Roaming Rate > of $5/minute. Wow!. Ok, let's get something straight. If a cloner takes a number from Seattle and uses it in New York to make fraudulent calls, the Seattle company has to pay hard cash to the New York company because those calls were put through using a MIN/ESN combination that belonged to the Seattle company. That money must be paid even though the calls were fraudulent. That is where the big losses occur. It's not cooking the books, it's not tax evasion. It's a hard cash loss! End of story ... I speak for everyone in a twenty mile radius around me :) Any questions..E-Mail cajones@uswnvg.com................... ------------------------------ From: lincmad@netcom.com (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Five Digit Phone Numbers Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 00:43:08 GMT My mother is from the small town of Goliad, Texas, about half way between San Antonio and Corpus Christi (in the Corpus LATA). Until very recently, all local numbers were dialed as just five digits. Until about ten years ago, all local numbers were 5-3xxx, but they are now up to 5-2xxx and even 5-8xxx numbers. However, as of a few months ago, you now must actually dial the entire seven-digit number for local calls! (All long-distance calls are eleven digits.) They finally got touch-tone some time in the late 1980's. The reason for the change, however, is that the local calling area is being expanded slightly, to cover points as far as 30 miles away. It will now be a local call to phone Fannin, Charco, Weesatche (all 30 or so subscribers), and Victoria (a town of 50,000 or more with an airport and two TV stations). For you history buffs, Goliad is the oft-forgotten second piece of the battle cry: "Remember the Alamo, remember Goliad!" Linc Madison * Oakland, California * LincMad@Netcom.com ------------------------------ From: djcl@io.org (woody) Subject: Re: Freephone Forum vs. ITU Question Date: 25 Jan 1995 22:19:20 -0500 Organization: Internex Online (io.org) Data: 416-363-4151 Voice: 416- 363-8676 In article , Judith Oppenheimer wrote: > Because the International Freephone numbers, and domestic freephone > numbers, will *co-exist* in the U.S., the U.S. Users Group has valid > concerns that there will be confusion among U.S. consumers. With regards to International Freephone service, it would seem that a country code *other* than +800 should be used, due to the possible confusion this would create with the domestic toll-free services, most of which use an "800" code already. One potential problem is that someone intending to call a domestic 800 number might try to use the international format instead -- a company called as a wrong number might have to pay the international charges. How much of the international freephone system has been decided so far? djcl@io.org ------------------------------ From: SHERI Subject: Re: Northern TeleCom Norstar Key System Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 17:12:26 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) Daniel Aharonoff writes: > Would like to get some feedback on reliability, expandability, stability > on a Norstar switch by Northern Telecom. We are also looking to get a > voice-mail that would compliment that system. I'm a certified installer of Norstar switches. I've been installing them for two years. I would like to say that they are the best systems I've installed so far. I've never heard any complaints from any customers. All had good things to say about the systems. They are also very flexible when it comes to expanding. Northern Telecom makes a voice mail systems that goes side by side with the Norstar systems. It's called Star Talk. There are different size voice mail systems. Norstar systems are also compatibile with other voice mail systems. ------------------------------ From: tmatimar@isgtec.com (Ted Timar) Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 11:12:00 -0500 Organization: ISG Technologies Inc. Subject: Re: Internet Mail With Half the Address? In Volume 15, Issue 53, Message 9, Jane McMahon wrote, > Pat, > How do find someone using Internet? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Perhaps it is about time for someone to > write an article describing the Internet 'white pages' and how to use > them. I think searching those would be a good way for you to start. PAT] Three Usenet FAQs of use exist, in Comp.Mail.Misc, "Updated Inter-Network Mail Guide" also in Comp.Mail.Misc, "FAQ: How to find people's E-mail addresses" and in Soc.Net-People, "FAQ: College Email Addresses" These in turn are archived at rtfm.mit.edu as (in order), pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/inter-network-guide pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/college-email/part[123] The last of these (College email addresses) is close to a year out of date, so any volunteers to take it over would probably be extremely welcome. Ted Timar tmatimar@isgtec.com ------------------------------ From: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Daniel R. Oelke) Subject: Re: Help Needed With Displaying X Windows Date: 25 Jan 1995 18:19:12 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: droelke@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com In article 9@eecs.nwu.edu, mike@premisys.com (Mike MacFaden) writes: > In article , Ken Stack edu> wrote: >> I am trying to fins a way to display x windows on my PC from my Sun at >> work. The problem is that my Sun at work does not have slip or ppp >> for security reasons. I have attempted to use PSI's interramp service > 1) You need a SLIP or PPP link from home. If your workstation doesn't > have it, then I suggest your sysAdm install a Terminal Server which > does provide good security (companies: Livingston, Xylogics, Xyplex) > 2) Get a copy of an X server that implements Low Bandwidth X (LBX) A > good company to talk to is Network Computing Devices (NCD). > 1 - you do not *need* a SLIP or PPP link if all you want to do is display X-windows on your PC. 2 - NCD has a product called X-Remote. It implements LBX over a direct modem connection, and exports your Sun's x-windows into an MS-Windows environment. I love it. For X-windows, this is the best solution (and cheapest) that I know of. If you want to do more on your PC -- then you might need an actual network (i.e. SLIP/PPP) connection. Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke@aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX http://spirit.aud.alcatel.com:8081/~droelke/ ------------------------------ From: jrm@world.std.com (John R MacLeod) Subject: Re: Where to Find tpage? Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 19:19:53 GMT The `tpage' distribution is at lcs.mit.edu, in the directory /telecom-archives/technical. The FAQs and www search engines I tried were utterly useless in finding this stuff, I just happened to notice telecom-archives and went searching. Look for ixo.program.scripts and ixo.tap.protocol (there are also two unrelated files, pager.bin.uqx and pager.ixo.example, for Macintosh). It turns out that the ixocico program at lcs.mit.edu can be made to work with our pager service, "Pagenet". Just recognize the ACK character at the end of the service's message packet, do not require length 1. For example, ixocico should consider "PAGENET MESSAGE CENTER" equivalent to plain ACK. John ------------------------------ From: wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 15:47:27 Subject: Re: Areas Covered by Phone Book? Quoting Paul Robinson > Benjamin P. Carter , writes: >> A typical phone book with both white and yellow pages has a >> map with a large white area surrounding a smaller yellow area. >> What is this map trying to tell me? > The white area shows the limits of the white pages covered by > that book. In the case of the Los Angeles area, there can -- > and will be -- holes in that area because pieces will be covered > by different telephone companies there. The yellow area is the > maximum area that yellow pages for that area will cover, and > again, may have holes. úÿ I believe the Los Angeles area was mentioned in this respect, and if there are holes in the listings because of different telephone companies that is a retrogression. At one time there were 30 or 40 telephone companies in the L.A. area, and they somehow reached agreement (possibly at the prodding of the P.U.C. or local civic leaders) to issue regional books with the listings "interleaved" (all in one alphabetical list). For example, one for Northwestern, one for Central, etc. The independent exchanges were dotted all over the area. There was no indication in the listings as to what telephone company served what customer. The yellow pages were a different story and each company usually issued yellow pages, and sold yellow page advertising, only for their territory. So a book would have complete white pages listings for the area covered, but only yellow pages for the area served by that telephone company. Now, of course, the independent companies have all been absorbed by GTE and the only two players are Pacific Telephone and GTE. But I'd be surprised in the P.U.C. or public pressure would let them go back to issuing directories with "holes" in the area covered. Yellow Pages directories, "locality" directories and private directories, of course, are an entirely different story. Wes Leatherock wes.leatherock@oubbs.telecom.uoknor.edu wes.leatherock@f2001.n147.z1.fidonet.org [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sometimes all the listings will be in one book but in separate parts. For example, I remember seeing a couple of books issued by Bell a few years ago which covered some regional area, however after that part of the book finished, and some other pages were put in the middle (maps, etc) then another set of white pages started, with a notation saying something like 'alphabetical listings for Podunk'. 'Copyright 19xx, Podunk Telephone Company'. So they were in the directory of record for the area (the Bell System directory) but not actually merged with it. Other times, such as with Illinois Bell and Centel, the Centel listings for Chicago only are part of the Illinois Bell Chicago White Pages, with no reference at all to the fact that they are part of a different telco. PAT] ------------------------------ From: ronk@eagle.ais.net (Ron Kritzman) Subject: Re: Radio Station Transmission Lines Date: 25 Jan 1995 15:50:03 GMT Organization: American Information Systems, Inc. Daniel Ritsma (ritsma@yu1.yu.edu) wrote: > I am working for a small radio station that is now using two 8kHz > lines to feed four tansmitters (AM). On one line we feed three > transmitters since they are for buildings next to each other; the other > line is for a building some 150 blocks from here. > Should we stick with analog lines or slowly move over to other types > of communication by phone? The fact that we have to branch off led me > to believe that we should go for digital transmition, so that we would > have less noise and a better signal. This sounds like the typical "carrier current" scenario. We had the same sort of setup when I was in college. Since the 8 kHz line well exceeds the bandwidth you can cram thru an AM radio, the two remaining questions are noise and cost. For your "close" string feeding the four buildings -- is there enough noise on the line to be objectionable? How about the 150 block run? Your "yu" login tells me you're in NYC, which means twenty blocks to the mile. Thats about seven miles then, give or take the zigzagging to and from the telco COs. Presuming that the noise and bandwidth are acceptable on both lines, look at cost. What will NYNEX hit you with for a digital line? One more thought, especially if you want to save money. Does the school have some sort of dedicated carrier already connecting the locations? A T-1 maybe? And can the Telecomm or MIS dept or whomever runs it, spare you a bit of bandwidth? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: New York City has twenty blocks to the mile? Gee whiz ... they must be very small blocks. In Chicago we have eight blocks to the mile with the exception of one area just south of downtown where there exist twelve blocks to the mile, and that's only for about one mile. On first reading the above, I thought there was a distance of 15-18 miles involved. PAT] ------------------------------ From: c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Spiros Triantafyllopoulos) Subject: Re: GSM Cellular Operators List Date: 25 Jan 1995 15:13:26 GMT Organization: Delco Electronics Corp. In article , Lim Kong Hong wrote: > In Singapore, GSM subscribers have the option to subscribe to autoroaming > services to Hongkong, UK, Australia, Switzerland and Denmark. This means > that with their GSM SIM Card, they are able to send/receive call in the > above countries. Could someone provide a brief explanation of GSM? A friend of mine in Greece got a car phone with GSM and he was talking about the SIM card and of course I had no clue as to what he's talking about. Thanks, Spiros Triantafyllopoulos Kokomo, IN 46904 (317) 451-0815 Software Development Tools, AD/SI c23st@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com Delco Electronics/GM Hughes Electronics "Reading, 'Rithmetic, and Readnews" ------------------------------ From: Victor Hu Subject: 28.8k bps Modem Date: Wed, 25 Jan 95 19:43:02 PST Hello, I just purchased a 28.8 K modem with the brand "Supra". I paid extra to get the 28.8 K instead of the 14.4 K. Can someone help me with the following? 1. Is the bps across the twisted pair wire actually running at 28.8 or 14.4 when 28.8 is invoked? Or is it just data compression? 2. What kinds of host supports 28.8K? I only connect up to my university's computer which only runs at 9.6K max. 3. What is the speed of fax machines? My impression of my new modem: 1. The Supra has a nice display (external version for the PC) that shows the mode of transmission. 2. However, I found that it required a different initialization string than that suggested as default for modems that are Hayes compatible. Thanks very much, Victor ------------------------------ From: rdp@palmer.com (Richard Palmer) Subject: What is an STD Coupler? Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 17:05:56 GMT Organization: RD & MA Palmer MD PMC My local telco (South Central Bell) has been charging me $18 a month for an STP coupler. I am apparently not using this, not in posession of it, and there is some question in my mind if I ever was. Could some kind soul please tell me what this is, and if anyone has any insights as to their responsibility about refunding erroneous charges I would be very interested. The South Central Bell representitive with whom I spoke told me that the "statute of limitations" was six months. Richard Palmer richard.palmer@palmer.com (504) 888-5315 ------------------------------ From: srothkin@aol.com (S Rothkin) Subject: Re: Voice File Formats Date: 25 Jan 1995 10:20:19 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Reply-To: srothkin@aol.com (S Rothkin) Another reply to your message answered your question for all formats except Vbase. If by Vbase you mean the indexed file used by VFEdit, The file starts with a header record which can be read with the following C structure (note that TD_BYTE4 should be defined to whatever will evaluate to four bytes on your platform): struct t_VFE_xfile_hdr { unsigned TD_BYTE4 IdxTot; /* total indices allocated in the file (including gaps) */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 SmpFrq; /* Sample frenquency */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 IdxUse; /* total indice used by phrases */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 dummya; /* dummy */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 BytUse; /* total bytes used */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 dummyb; /* dummy */ }; Following the header is an array of IdxTot entries of the following structure. Entries are in order of phrase number. If you have gaps in phrase numbers, there will be some entries with length 0. struct t_VFE_xfile_index { unsigned TD_BYTE4 offset; /* absolute offset in file */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 length; /* length of the index */ unsigned TD_BYTE4 Txtoff; /* annotation text offset in file */ }; The rest of the file is the phrase data, and the annotation text entered through VFEdit (if any). The offset and length fields of the index entries control access to the phrase data and annotation text. Steve Rothkin Senior Systems Consultant, Granada Systems Design Email: SRothkin@aol.com Work: (914) 221-1617 ext. 217 Fax: (914) 226-5779 Home: (914) 298-1242 ------------------------------ From: moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com (Ramin ) Subject: Re: Telephony Card/Software Needed Date: 25 Jan 1995 16:13:48 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems Inc. Reply-To: moshtr@rockdal.aud.alcatel.com Paul Garfield (garfield@vanilla.cs.umn.edu) wrote: > I've seen a couple similar questions posted but haven't seen an > answer. Please post the answer. I'm looking for cards for IBM PCs > that can handle phone calls. I need to be able to program how the > call is handled (when and what to play and record, what to do with > touch tone presses, etc). All I've seen is things for one line. I > want to start with about four lines but have the ability to upgrade to > perhaps 24, so I need multiple (four or eight) lines per card. What > are good vendors for this and where can I go for information? Thanks. Try Dialogics at 1-800-755-4444. If you need some help with the software drop me a line. Ramin ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #65 *****************************