TELECOM Digest Tue, 31 Jan 95 14:57:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 66 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson No Activity in This Newsgroup? (Glenn Foote) GSM Operators - List (Robert Lindh) When Will PBXs Go Away? (Brent Laminack) Infrared Network Devices (Tim Lee) Sprint For IntraLATA Calls in California (Javier Henderson) Anyone Know High Speed Serial Interface (Chuc Do) Ten Digit Dialing (Evan Champion) Cheap Way to Get an 800 Number? (David Hayes) Data Engineer Position in Houston (pp002963@interramp.com) Directory Assistance in Tokyo (Javier Henderson) CCITT Class A (Jesus Ruelas) Is There a Newsgroup For SONET? (Geno Rice) The Four Minute Battle For 800-555 (Dave Leibold) Bell Canada Multi-Language Operator Support Trial (Dave Leibold) IVR Software Information Wanted (Robert Geradts) DAX Software - RAM Research (Barton Fisher) Telebit Introduces Two V.34 Modems (Eileen Lin) Consultant Wanted in Denver, Colorado USA (Richard Bourassa) RBOC Aids Motorola's ISDN Push (Chris J. Cartwright) Plumber Arrested: Fraudulent Call Forwarding (Dave Levenson) 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: glnfoote@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Glenn Foote) Subject: No Activity in This Newsgroup? Date: 31 Jan 1995 14:28:26 -0500 Organization: The Greater Columbus Freenet I haven't seen any activity in this newsgroup for about a week now. Is it my site, or has our moderator been ill? Glenn L Foote ...... glnfoote@freenet.columbus.oh.us [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our site, nwu.edu was victimized by a hacker last Thursday. Somehow he got in as root and did quite a bit of damage. The entire site was down for a couple days while repairs were made. At that point, by the weekend, the computers were operational again, however our links to the outside world (that is, our dial ups and our telnet, rlogin, ftp, etc) remained shut down until some additional changes were made. Our links to the network and our dialups were turned back on late Monday night. The sysadmin here has complete details on it but I discourage writing or bothering him as there are still some repairs going on and he is quite busy. I am grateful he and his staff made the enormous effort they did in order that things like this Digest could get back in publication as quickly as possible. I think we now have Caller- ID on our dialup lines. Its too bad hackers have to ruin things for everyone else. PAT] ------------------------------ From: etxlndh@eos99.ericsson.se (Robert Lindh) Subject: GSM Operators - List Organization: Ericsson Telecom AB Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 19:01:56 GMT Country Operator name Network code Tel to customer service ------ ------------- ------------ -------------------- --- Argentina Australia Optus 505 02 Telecom/Telstra 505 01 Int + 6 118 018 287 Vodafone 505 03 Int + 612 415 7236 Austria PTV Austria 232 01 Belgium Belgacom 206 01 Int + 32 2205 4000 Cameroon Denmark Sonofon 238 02 Int + 45 9936 7196 Tele Danmark Mobil 238 01 Int + 45 80 20 20 20 Estonia EMT 248 01 Radiolinja Estonia Finland Radiolinja Finland 244 05 Int + 358 800 95050 Telecom 244 91 Int + 358 800 7000 France SFR 208 10 Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16 Telecom 208 01 Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81 Germany D1, DeTeMobil 262 01 Int + 49 511 288 0171 D2, Mannesmann 262 02 Int + 49 172 1212 G Britain Cellnet 234 10 Int + 44 753 504548 Vodafon 234 15 Int + 44 836 1100 Greece Panafon 202 05 Int + 30 944 00 122 STET 202 10 Int + 30 93 333 333 Holland Telekom 204 08 Int + 31 50 688 699 Hong Kong SmarTone 454 06 Int + 852 880 2688 Telecom CSL 454 00 Int + 852 803 8450 Hungary Pannon GSM 216 01 Int + 36 1 270 4120 Westel 900 216 30 Int + 36 30 303 100 Iceland Telekom Int + 354 96 330 Ireland Telecom 272 01 Int + 353 42 31999 Israel Italy SIP 222 01 Int + 39 6615 20309 Jersey Jersey Telecoms Lebanon Libancell Lithuania LMT 247 01 Luxemburg Telekom 270 01 Int + 352 4088 7088 Macao New Zealand Bell South 530 01 Norway NetCom 242 02 Int + 47 92 00 01 68 Telenor Mobil 242 01 Int + 47 22 03 03 01 Portugal Telecel 268 01 Int + 351 931 1212 TMN 268 06 Int + 351 1 793 91 78 Singapore Singapore Telecom 525 01 South Africa MTN 655 10 Vodacom 655 01 Int + 27 82 111 Spain Telefonica Spain 214 07 Sweden Comviq 240 07 Int + 46 200 22 20 40 Europolitan 240 08 Int + 46 20 22 22 22 Telia 240 01 Int + 46 771 91 03 50 Switzerland Telekom 228 01 Int + 41 46 05 64 64 Thailand AIS GSM Turkey TEKnoTEL 286 02 Turkcell 286 01 Int + 90 800 211 0211 UAE ETISALAT 424 01 Uganda [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The information for the last entry on the list, Uganda, was missing when this arrived here. PAT] ------------------------------ From: brent@cc.gatech.edu (Brent Laminack) Subject: When Will PBXs Go Away? Date: 31 Jan 1995 10:17:45 -0500 Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology What is the current thinking on when a PC (powerPC, whatever) replace the PBX? i.e. when can I run my T1 from the telco with my voice trunks on it into one card on a PC and have it route voice over the LAN to other desktop computers that double as phones? It will probably be a time curve: first available for small offices (ten users) on an ethernet, then a while later available for 200 lines on a faster LAN, etc. What says the net? My Mitel sx200 lite has a 68000 for a processor: it's a MacPlus! Surely the cpu horsepower is available to replace lots of dedicated TTL and switching hardware. I was just at a briefing from Apple and they're working with the PBX makers for a Geoport Mac to be a voice terminal behind a "big maker" PBX. But who are the startups that are out to kill the PBX makers? Brent Laminack (brent@cc.gatech.edu) ------------------------------ From: tslee@csupomona.edu (Tim_Lee) Subject: Infrared Network Devices Date: 31 Jan 95 10:39:45 PST Organization: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Those of you who have some experience working with Infrared Network Devices (for LANs): What are some of the more reliable equipments you have used or you know of? Will you also inform me on their basic specs? ------------------------------ From: henderson@mln.com Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 11:20:58 PDT Subject: Sprint For IntraLATA Calls in California Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA We had a discussion about the Sprint offer of one cent per minute for customers in California using them to carry their intraLATA calls. One of the caveats mentioned here was that customers on any of their 'saving' plans (say, The Most) would not be eligible for the special rate. I am with The Most plan, and today I got my bill. There are several intraLATA calls, all billed at one cent per minute. This confirms what I was told on the phone by Sprint customer service: the rate is good for all of the residential customers (the person didn't specify any geographical restrictions, i.e., Northern versus Southern. I'm in SoCal [Ventura, to be precise]). Javier Henderson (JH21) henderson@mln.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 13:27:26 +0000 From: bcarh8ab!bcars703!chucdo@uunet.uu.net Subject: Anyone Know High Speed Serial Interface? Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada I'm looking for any available information on commercially available products that support HSSI (1M-52Mbit/s). Please, feel free to post information or send it to me via e-mail. In returns, if there is enough interest, I will post a summary of what I get in e-mail. Thanks in advance. Chuc Do chucdo@bnr.ca ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 08:55:08 +0000 From: evan champion Subject: Ten Digit Dialing Organization: Bell Northern Research Recently there has been a lot of talk about having to do ten digit dialing to call even local numbers that are in a different phone number. I have a number of users who are going to be affected by the above and am looking for a good explanation for them. I'm myself am not completely sure myself of all the reasons for making the changes to out-of-area dialing and would like to get it right the first time :-) Could someone e-mail me with an explanation? Thanks! Evan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, it is eleven digit dialing, not ten digit if you count the '1' on the front. However, one would think that when this becomes universal all over the USA that we could in fact get by with ten digits since the '1' would no longer be needed; there would be no 'local' calls to distinquish from 'long distance'. Since everything that we dial would consist of area code plus seven digits, there would be no need for a '1' to indicate that 'what follows is an area code' -- everything that follows would be area codes! It would be nice to see the '1' vanish under those cirucmstances. Or maybe they will insist on keeping it using as their rationale that '1' is also -- by coincidence -- the country code for the USA and Canada, and that what we are really dialing is country code, area code and seven digit number. As to *why* they are imposing it on calls within the same area -- as is supposed to be the case in Chicago beginning sometime in 1996 -- I do not know. Various reasons have been given. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dhayes@onramp.net (David Hayes) Subject: Cheap Way to Get an 800 Number? Date: 31 Jan 1995 17:54:01 GMT Organization: On-Ramp; Individual Internet Connections Some friends and I are starting a new small business. We would like to have an 800 number. How do I get one? Other than ATT/MCI/Sprint, are there other people who can provide an 800 number cheaply? How do I minimize my cost? How do I get 800-CALL-MY-BUSINESS? Do I have have to pay extra for a "good" 800 number. David Hayes PGP public key available on request, or send dhayes@onramp.net mail subject: help to pgp-public-keys@demon.co.uk ------------------------------ From: pp002963@interramp.com Subject: Data Engineer Position in Houston Date: Tue, 31 Jan 95 19:42:40 PDT Organization: PSI Public Usenet Link Responsibilities include supporting regional and national customer CDPD applications, coordination with marketing, network engineering, MIS and systems vendors. Eight years experience in software/networking/data comm- unications (or four years with BSEE/CS) REQUIRED. Experience in TCP/IP and Software Testing needed; Documentation and presentation skills, knowledge of cellular industry and technology are a plus. Payment for relocation to Houston will be considered. Immediate availability. PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO ME BY E-MAIL AS I DO NOT LOG IN EVERY DAY; FAX RESUMES TO 713-876-5011. Thanks. ------------------------------ Subject: Directory Assistance in Tokyo From: henderson@mln.com (Javier Henderson) Date: 31 Jan 95 08:30:58 PST Organization: Medical Laboratory Network; Ventura, CA Hello, I need help with directory assistance in Tokyo, Japan. I tried AT&T, which I guess connected me with DA in Tokyo, but I may not have the correct spelling for the business I'm looking for, so the search was a bust. It's a hotel, and I was told it spells Abiko. Any help will be much appreciated. úÿ Javier Henderson (JH21) henderson@mln.com ------------------------------ From: rgu332@email.sps.mot.com (Jesus Ruelas) Subject: CCITT Class A Organization: Motorola GDL - IS Department Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 02:34:21 GMT Hi everybody, I read about the committee CCITT that is formed by 5 class groups, they are class A, class B, ..., class E; and know that only the group class A has the voting right while proposing a Standard specification. Does anybody know why only this group has this kind of privileges?. Thanks and regards, Jesus Ruelas Telecommunications & WAN Motorola, Inc. ------------------------------ From: geno@paladin.ho.att.com (-E.RICE) Subject: Newsgroup For SONET? Organization: AT&T Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 19:37:37 GMT What newsgroup contains discussions of SONET? Geno Rice [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You will find them here from time to time. Does anyone know of a group specifically on the topic? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jan 95 00:14 EST From: dleibold@gvc.com (Dave Leibold) Subject: The Four Minute Battle For 800-555 [from Bell News, 23 Jan 95 - content is Bell Canada's] [from photo caption...] I've got one ... The event began at 9 a.m. and by 9:04 a.m., it was over. On December 15, a new NXX (555) was opened for 1-800 numbers across North America allowing for approximately 8,000 new numbers. We were competing against all the other telephone companies in North America to get as many of them as we could. Doris Tesolin, an 800 Service Centre associate, celebrates getting the first number just after the 9 a.m. start. At exactly 9:04 a.m., the entire 8,000 numbers were gone and the 800 Service Centre was successful in securing about 40 numbers for our customers. [dl note: apart from 555.1212 and perhaps 555.4141, and with a capacity of 10 000 possible 800 555.xxxx numbers, what happened to most of the other 2000 numbers available in 800-555?] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jan 95 00:17 EST From: dleibold@gvc.com (Dave Leibold) Subject: Bell Canada Multi-Language Operator Support Trial [from Bell News, 9 Jan 95, content is Bell Canada's] Our LD assistance comes in 17 languages. Our customers can now receive assistance in making long distance calls in the language of their choice. In a six-month trial which began last December, our operators are offering 24-hour access to Language Assistance, at no extra charge, to assist customers in completing their long distance calls. This month and next, customers will receive information on dialing "0" for language assistance via a SIM (Short Informational Message) on their monthly bill. "It's another example of how we continue to find new services to delight our customers," says Janet Garrod, of Consumer Market Management. The trial will measure customer response and demand for the free service, assess the cost and benefits of providing such a service, and identify the most frequently used languages. ------------- [sidebar] Our ethnic customers can receive assistance in the following 17 languages: Mandarin; Cantonese; Japanese; Vietnamese; Korean; Hebrew; German; Spanish; Polish; Russian; Portuguese; Romanian; Tagalog; Italian; Hindi; Arabic; and French. ------------------------------ From: css@pacifier.com (Robert Geradts) Subject: IVR Software Information Wanted Date: 31 Jan 1995 06:36:54 GMT Organization: Pacifier Internet Server (206) 693-0325 I have been attempting to evaluate many different Interactive Voice Recognition development platforms. Can anyone out there share their views on the following products? Visual Voice by Stylus Innovation ProVIDE by Telephone Response Technologies REKOLL by N-Soft Ring! Application Generator by Ring! 4Voice and Narrator by C3 Voice Applications Language by U.S.Telecom CallPath DirectTalk/2 by IBM Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks, Rob ------------------------------ From: bartonfisher@delphi.com Subject: DAX Software - RAM Research Date: Tue, 31 Jan 95 01:20:54 -0500 Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice) I'm interested in finding people that own the DAX voice/fax developement software. Please Email me. Thanks, Bart ------------------------------ From: eileen@telebit.com (Eileen Lin) Subject: Telebit Introduces Two V.34 Modems Organization: Telebit Corporation; Sunnyvale, CA, USA Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 15:43:35 GMT Contact: Direct Marketing Dept., Telebit Corp. Tel: 408/734-4333 or 800/835-3248 Fax: 408/734-3333 Internet: sales@telebit.com TELEBIT INTRODUCES TWO V.34 MODEMS SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 16, 1995 -- Telebit Corporation, a leader in the on-demand remote access industry, today announced that its FastBlazer 8840 modems now support the ITU-T V.34 standard. The FastBlazer(R) 8840 is designed for environments where large central site modem requirements include reliability, comprehensive network management, high speed and global homologation. In addition, today the company introduced the TeleBlazer, a V.34 modem designed for remote users dialing into LANs who want to take advantage of increased speeds. Product Features: Features of the FastBlazer 8840 include: - Speeds of up to 28.8 Kbps uncompressed and up to 115.2 Kbps with compression - Support for V.34, V.32terbo and eight other ITU-T and Bell standards - Flash memory for simple upgrades - Simple on-site configuration, control and monitoring via an 18- button front panel keypad and LCD display - Extensive command set and configuration parameters - Automatic single-call dial restoral of leased lines - Full configuration, control, testing and monitoring of FastBlazer rackmount modems via Telebit's ViewBlazer (R) network management system - Full compatibility with Telebit's NetBlazer(R) family of dial-up routers - Available in standalone and rackmount versions - Conformity to worldwide regulatory requirements - Extensive global homologation plans TeleBlazer features include: - Speeds of up to 28.8 Kbps uncompressed and up to 115.2 Kbps with compression - Support for V.34, V.FC and eight other ITU-T and Bell standards - Support for 14.4 Kbps fax transmissions - V.42bis and MNP 5 data compression - Full compatibility with Telebit's NetBlazer(R) family of on- demand routers - MNP 10 with `Adverse Channel Enhancement' for reliable cellular communications Price and availability: The FastBlazer 8840 Standalone and FastBlazer 8840 Rackmount are available at the end of January 1995 and have a list price of $1,199 (U.S.). Telebit's TeleBlazer is also available at the end of January 1995 and has a list price of $399 (U.S.). V.34 support can be added to the FastBlazer through a free software upgrade that is available through Telebit's Customer Service bulletin board. The telephone number for the Chelmsford, MA bulletin board is 508-656-9103; to contact the Sunnyvale, CA bulletin board, phone 408-745-3707 or 408-745-3861. Telebit Corporation designs, manufactures and markets a family of remote network access products to enable cost-effective extension of LANs to remote users. The company has offices in the United States and Europe and markets its products and services worldwide through value-added resellers, wholesale distributors and OEMs. Telebit is traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol TBIT. Telebit, FastBlazer, ViewBlazer and NetBlazer are registered trademarks of Telebit Corporation. ------------------------------ From: bourassa@teal.csn.org (Richard Bourassa) Subject: Consultant Wanted in Denver, Colorado USA Date: 31 Jan 1995 15:51:18 GMT Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc. World-wide manufacturing company is looking for a consultant with expertise in tariff analysis and telephony cost management. Major locations exist in Denver & Miami (USA), France and Australia. Objective is to analyze existing facilities and service contracts and make recommendations to reduce global communications costs for voice, fax, video and data. Familiarity with tariff 12 issues required. Interested parties contact: Ben Pepper Senior Director World-Wide Information Systems (303) 799-2230 (US Phone Number) benp@tps.com (Internet) -or- Richard Bourassa Systems Analyst World-wide Information Systems (303) 799-2413 (US Phone Number) richb@tps.com (Internet) Feel free to submit credentials and contact information via email. Richard Bourassa, Information Systems ___T_e_l_e_c_t_r_o_n_i_c_s__|/\ __ Telectronics Pacing Systems Pacing Systems \/ 7400 S. Tucson Way, Englewood, CO 80112 ph (303)799-2413 fax (303)799-1241 Internet: richb@tps.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 11:14:34 EST From: Chris J. Cartwright Subject: RBOC Aids Motorola's ISDN Push In the 1/23/95 issue of {PC Week}, page 55, there is an article that describes a joint effort between Motorola and Ameritech to bundle ISDN hardware and services for home and office use. ISDN BRI starts at $28/mo and the RBOC will sell Motorla's terminal adapter for $399 or $19/mo for two years. Ameritech also provides it's own software for the ISDN and has a similar program using two T-1's. This is not an ad, I work for neither, just want ISDN at home at a price I can afford and expect others do too. Chris Cartwright, Technical Engineer Voice 301.295.0809 Mail dsc3cjc@imc220.med.navy.mil C-serve 71614,2441 ------------------------------ From: dave@westmark.com (Dave Levenson) Subject: Plumber Arrested: Fraudulent Call Forwarding Organization: Westmark, Inc. Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 01:43:14 GMT A story in the Monday {New York Times} describes a Philadelphia area plumber who subscribed to Call Forwarding Ultra. This is a service offered by Bell Atlantic which allows subscribers to control call-forwarding from a telephone other than the one being forwarded. This plumber allegedly subscribed to the service for several of his competitors without their permission, and then forwarded their calls to his telephone. He then intercepted some or all of their business. He was found out after approximately one month, when one of his victims was complimented by a customer for a job well-done -- a job the victim never did! The perpetrator is currently in jail pending trial for an un-related charge of battery, but is now being charged with numerous counts of wire fraud, theft of business, operating a business under a false identity, and similar charges. Dave Levenson Internet: dave@westmark.com Westmark, Inc. UUCP: uunet!westmark!dave Stirling, NJ, USA Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This same report appeared in alt.dcom.telecom today submitted to that newsgroup by Jack Decker who concluded by saying this was a good reason telcos should password accounts, presumably to prevent fraudulent Call Forwarding among other things. The thing he neglected to mention -- nor was it mentioned by Dave Levenson here -- was that Call Forwarding Ultra (or Enhanced Call Forwarding or Remote Call Forwarding as it is known in other telcos) *does* require a password. If you have Call Forwarding on your line otherwise -- you have to already have it installed -- then if you further subscribe to 'Ultra' you are given a personal password or PIN. You dial a seven digit number which is the switch itself, begin by identifying yourself with your PIN, then give the number you wish to have (un)forwarded, followed by the number (if turning it on). The change takes effect immediatly. Needless to say, the switch keeps its own records on who called it from what remote location, with none of this 'private entry' stuff permitted. Typically, that number at the switch will not even answer or respond if the switch cannot tell what number is being used to call it before it answers. Also, no other custom calling features can be changed in any way, nor can any of the many other features of the switch be programmed using that PIN. So telco does make reasonable precautions to insure that one person cannot just call up and change the forwarding for someone else. What goes around comes around: Does anyone remember the old anecdote about the original development of automatic switching involving Alvin Stroger? Mr. Stroger was an undertaker a hundred years ago; he believed that the operators on the manual exchange serving his community had been bribed to divert calls from the public seeking funeral/burial services to his compe- tition. So the story goes, he developed the switch which came to bear his name as a way to be certain that manual operators at telephone exchanges could not wilfully give away his business to his competitors. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #66 *****************************