TELECOM Digest Mon, 6 Feb 95 00:26:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 79 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Managing Internet Information Services" by Liu (Rob Slade) More on Universal International Freephone Numbers (Judith Oppenheimer) Final CFP: ISLIP'95 (Mehmet Orgun) Unit to "Speak" CLID (John and DonaLeigh Engstrom) Combinet ISDN Routers (Robert Seltzer) New Motorola Micro-tac Elite AMPS Cellphone (Andrew Knox) Phone Number Wanted For Genesys Labs (Paul Kendall) International Tariff Database Providers (Mitchell Weiss) Information Wanted on MagNet Communications (franjo03@dons.ac.usfca.edu) Re: How I Fooled Caller ID (Clifton T. Sharp) ADSI Terminals (was How I Fooled Caller ID) (Tony Harminc) Re: MCI Gave me a Deal (John Marquette) Re: MCI Gave me a Deal (Daniel J. McDonald) Re: MCI Gave me a Deal (John Gutman) Dick Tracy Tackles Hackers! (TELECOM Digest Editor) 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 05 Feb 1995 14:45:11 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Managing Internet Information Services" by Liu BKMININS.RVW "Managing Internet Information Services", Liu et al, 1994, 1-56592-062- 7, U$29.95 %A Cricket Liu cricket@nsr.hp.com %A Jerry Peek jerry@ora.com %A Russ Jones %A Bryan Buus buus@cs.bu.edu buus@csn.org buus@news.coop.net %A Adrian Nye adrian@ora.com %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1994 %G 1-56592-062-7 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$29.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %P 630 %S Nutshell %T "Managing Internet Information Services" For companies interested in gaining an Internet "presence", most of the current crop of "business on the Internet" books recommend becoming an information provider. None of them are really good at telling you how. Here, then, is the first "all-in-one" compilation of Internet server tools. The book covers everything from simple finger responses, to mail servers, to ftp, to WAIS, to Gopher and World Wide Web servers. "Firewall" security, legal issues and intellectual property are touched on. While technical details predominate, there are practical suggestions for design as well. Unfortunately, this book is not really for managers. The material is demanding and requires a knowledge of UNIX. The authors note this in the preface, and it is fair to say that Internet server management is a technical task. At the same time, it would have been possible to have started with simpler items and more basic explanations. As it stands, the book is more appropriate for either the technical staff in a large company or those involved with setting up a UNIX Internet access provider. Perhaps a companion volume aimed at the more general user would be a future project. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKMININS.RVW. Permission given for distribution in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ From: Judith Oppenheimer Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 09:55:45 -0500 Subject: Universal International Freephone Numbers [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ms. Oppenheimer responds to email she received on her recent articles. PAT] Mr. Brown, I have the same publicly-available information that you have. But I do have a few questions. Rather than private email, I would prefer to maintain the public forum of the TELECOM Digest so that this thread remains available to all interested parties. AT&T can no longer publicly maintain that their users don't care about their 800 numbers. In January 1993, the United States developed a position that included grandfathering of existing U.S. 800 assignments. This was further endorsed in October, 1994, by the U.S. Users Statement, which also rejects the lottery. And why shouldn't they? U.S. carriers have aggressively encouraged U.S. companies to invest in and brand their 800 numbers, leading the way themselves with such visible and successful marketing campaigns as 800 PICK ATT and 800 COLLECT. Indeed, 800 COLLECT is a trademarked brand. The overt lack of carrier support for customers suggests that the substantial investments of money and brand awareness in 800 PRODIGY, 800 JEEP EAGLE, 800 MERRILL, and others, are not important to their users. Or, that those users are not important to their telecom vendors: the carriers. Is 800 COLLECT also to be up for grabs? (Where do I sign up? ) When presented with this question, a participating MCI representative retorted that 800 COLLECT was useless overseas because there are no letters on the phone pads. We all now know that a new international telephone pad standard has been adopted. That argument, like the others, holds no water. So why maintain the propoganda that it doesn't matter? That your customers are willing to lose the very competitive edge that you yourself have helped them attain. Given the opportunity, wouldn't the carriers rather gain entry into European markets *and* protect and promote the interests of customers at home? U.S. users have spoken. They care. They stand to lose a great deal, and gain nothing. So how do *you* suggest that we move forward in a fair and practical manner to address everyone's interests? Judith Oppenheimer Producer@pipeline.com > Responding to msg by jcb@taz.ho.att.com () on Wed, 1 Feb 11:50 PM >> Judith, >> My fax number is 908 949 6203. I'd be happy to see >> what you have as 'current and unedited'. >> Thanks, >> John Carl Brown I'm adding another contact point to the list below that's more business oriented, for those of you who'd like to coordinate with like-minded business concerns. Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) is the technical representative of the airline industry, acting on behalf of the US airlines who have a big investment in 800 numbers for their reservation systems. This organization, via its ITU participation, has been working hard on behalf of all U.S. 800 number users (for example, they gathered the impressive ranks of such users as American Express, EDS and the Ford Motor Company to draft and present the "Users' Statement of Principles Regarding Universal International Freephone Service.) Their stated mission in this matter is to protect and promote the interests of all U.S. 800 number users. The contact person at ARINC is Ben Levitan, 410 266-4111. He is the *only* participant at the international freephone meetings representing the formal U.S. position, and the U.S. 800 number users. J. Oppenheimer, Producer@Pipeline.com Interactive CallBrand(TM) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 11:56:43 +1100 From: mehmet@macadam.mpce.mq.edu.au (Mehmet Orgun) Subject: Final CFP: ISLIP'95 Final Call for Papers ISLIP'95 The Eighth International Symposium on Languages for Intensional Programming May 3-5, 1995, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia Objectives There is a growing interest in computational models and/or programming languages and systems based on intensional logics such as temporal logic, interval logic, modal and intuitionistic logics. In fact, a whole new programming model called intensional programming has begun with applications in a wide range of areas including parallel programming, dataflow computation, temporal reasoning, scientific computation, real-time programming, temporal databases, spreadsheets, attribute grammars, and hardware synthesis. This symposium aims at bringing together researchers working in all aspects of this area, and to promote intensive discussions and foster collaboration among researchers. We encourage papers dealing with the theoretical foundations, design, implementation and prototype development issues, comparative studies, and applications, as well as those describing new challenges arising out of applications. The symposium will include, but will not be limited to, the following topics of interest (as they relate to intensional programming): Programming paradigms Semantics * dataflow computation * non-determinism * connectionist models * extended Kahn principle * logic programming * intensional concepts * real-time programming * termination issues * visual languages * languages such as Lucid and GLU Software Engineering Applications * version control * signal processing * visual user interfaces * image processing * parallel programming * hardware synthesis * fault-tolerant systems * graphics * program verification * data models Submissions You are invited to submit either a full paper or an extended abstract of approximately 5000 words (10-15 double spaced pages). The cover page should include the name, phone/fax numbers and e-mail addres of the contact author(s), a short abstract, topic(s) and a list of keywords. Papers will be reviewed by the program committee for their originality, correctness, significance, and relevance to the symposium. We prefer PostScript or self-contained LaTeX submissions via electronic mail to either one of the e-mail addresses below. You can also send 3 hardcopies of your submission to one of the following addresses (chosen with respect to geographical proximity). Paper submission deadline is February 15, 1995. Edward A. Ashcroft / ISLIP'95 E-mail: ed.ashcroft@asu.edu Department of Computer Science & Eng Phone : +1 602 965-7544 Arizona State University Fax : +1 602 965-2751 Tempe, Arizona 85283, U.S.A. Mehmet A. Orgun / ISLIP'95 E-mail: mehmet@mpce.mq.edu.au Department of Computing Phone : +61 2 850 - 9570 Macquarie University Fax : +61 2 850 - 9551 Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia Authors will receive notification of acceptance by March 20, 1995. Revised versions of the papers to appear in the pre-proceedings to be distributed at the Symposium are due on April 12, 1995 (preferred in PostScript or LaTeX form, sent by email). The symposium will be held on May 3-5, 1995 at Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. At the Symposium, the research will be presented and also evaluated, and it is planned that final polished papers will appear in the proceedings in book form (negotiations with a publisher is under way). The details about registration and accommodation will be provided later. Symposium Chair Edward A. Ashcroft Arizona State University Program Committee Seiki Akama Teikyo University of Technology Edward A. Ashcroft Arizona State University Weichang Du University of New Brunswick Tony A. Faustini Arizona State University Jan Hext Macquarie University Tom Hintz University of Technology,Sydney R. Jagannathan SRI International Michael Johnson Macquarie University Steve Matthews University of Warwick Mehmet A. Orgun Macquarie University John Potter Microsoft Institute John Plaice University of Laval William W. Wadge University of Victoria Andrew L. Wendelborn University of Adelaide Kang Zhang Macquarie University Local Arrangements Mehmet A. Orgun Macquarie University Kang Zhang Macquarie University Important Dates Submission Deadline: February 15, 1995 Notification: March 20, 1995 Revised Versions due: April 12, 1995 Symposium: May 3-5, 1995 Further Information Contact: ed.ashcroft@asu.edu mehmet@mpce.mq.edu.au Latest information about the Symposium will be made available via the WWW page: http://krakatoa.mpce.mq.edu.au/~mehmet/islip95.html ------------------------------ From: engstrom@netcom.com (John and DonaLeigh Engstrom) Subject: Unit to "Speak" CLID Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 02:05:13 CST Caller ID has just become available here in the Dallas area and I was thinking to myself "self, it would be nice to not have to get up and look at the caller ID box every time the phone rings". I then pull out my handy Hello Direct catalog and find the Voice 8000 unit which can tag up to nine numbers with individual audio stamps that play every time that number calls. Does anyone know of another unit that does this? I really need to voice stamp more than nine numbers for this idea to become useful. Thanks in advance for your help. John Engstrom engstrom@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: BSeltzer@ix.netcom.com (Robert Seltzer) Subject: Combinet ISDN Routers Date: 6 Feb 1995 03:06:34 GMT Organization: Netcom úÿ I am gathering opinions on ISDN products, particularly products from Combinet. Any information would be great. Thanks, Bob Seltzer BSeltzer@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 06 Feb 1995 04:09:52 GMT From: aj.knox@auckland.ac.nz (Andrew Knox) Subject: New Motorola Micro-tac Elite AMPS cellphone Organization: University of Auckland Motorola New Zealand is apparently about to launch a new AMPS cellphone called the Microtac Elite. I would be quite interested to know whether anyone has any details about this phone or about pricing of it throughout the world. Apparently the phone was to be launched approx six months ago but problems with the lithium batteries have delayed the launch. Regards, Dr. Andrew Knox ------------------------------ From: pkendall@arnold.jfrank.COM (Paul Kendall) Subject: Phone Number Wanted For Genesys Labs Date: 06 Feb 1995 01:53:06 GMT Organization: J. Frank Consulting, Inc. Anybody have a phone number for Genesys Labs? I'm interested in their product line, especially the T-server. Thanks, Paul Kendall J.Frank Consulting Palo Alto, CA Paul.Kendall@jfrank.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 13:51:35 -0600 From: mweiss@interaccess.com (Mitchell Weiss) Subject: International Tariff Database Providers I am looking for a list of companies who provide tariff databases for European, Far East, and other points of origin. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ From: franjo03@dons.ac.usfca.edu (Franjieh) Subject: Information Wanted on MagNet Communications Date: 5 Feb 1995 04:50:06 GMT Organization: University of San Francisco I would like to know whether anyone here has heard of MagNet Communications. They are one of those new long-distance carriers that offer flat-rate billing at six-second increments. I am new to this type of industry and would like to get some people's opinions (if they have any) before and if I am to convert my LD service. Any opinions that you might have would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ From: clifto@indep1.chi.il.us (Clifton T. Sharp) Subject: Re: How I Fooled Caller ID Organization: as little as possible Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 07:48:01 GMT In article Testmark Laboratories <0006718446@mcimail.com> writes: > Standalone Caller ID boxes that display calling number, or calling > number and name, "listen" all the time, and any time a valid incoming > Caller ID comes in, they display it! I checked several brands, and > they all behaved this way. Someone should alert the telcos and Not the Radio Shack 43-951 (sold some years ago); it only supplies +5V to its XR2206 chip between the first and second rings. I don't believe my AT&T model 85 will, either, but haven't been inside it. Cliff Sharp WA9PDM clifto@indep1.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Feb 95 01:38:35 EST From: Tony Harminc Subject: ADSI Terminals (was How I Fooled Caller ID) Testmark Laboratories <0006718446@mcimail.com> wrote: > Level 3: A telephone with a display screen. (The "D" in ADSI.) > The high end ADSI phones that I have tested even have things like > pull-out QWERTY keyboards for data entry, PCMCIA Type I slots, "smart > card" slots, and magnetic strip card readers! > It is estimated that there will be between 5 and 15 million ADSI Level > 3 screen phones in North America by 1998, and I suspect the higher > number is more accurate. Once you've tried one, you don't want to > give it up! Um -- how does this differ from inumerable similar failed projects like the Northern Telecom DisplayPhone or Bell Canada's Alex terminals now languishing in the remainder bins? The experience with Minitel in France is that sure -- everyone wants one *as long as they don't have to pay for it*. Start charging market rates, and the units are returned as fast as you can get a dial tone. Massive state subsidies is just not in the cards in North America, at least. Tony Harminc ------------------------------ From: John Marquette Subject: Re: MCI Gave me a Deal Date: 5 Feb 1995 01:02:42 GMT Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc. glen@cs.wisc.edu (Glen Ecklund) wrote: > MCI called yesterday, and made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. > 50% off on all calls for six months. After that, 50% off on calls to > MCI customers (no list required) and 25% off (if I recall correctly) > to everyone else. I'm a Sprint customer. I called MCI to verify the terms (YES! Including international calls, UK 31c/min) and got on the phone to talk with Sprint customer service. I asked if they would match the offer (I have several lines and am a good customer of long standing) ... bottom line is they would not match, nor do they have a tariff that's similar ... BUT they offered me a so-called "concession credit" on my account of $50.00 for my loyalty. May I recommend this to TELECOM Digest readers who are current Sprint customers? It's a dog-eat-dog world for customer retention out there and we the customers should benefit from it whenever possible. John Marquette ------------------------------ From: mcdonald@teleport.com (Dan McDonald) Subject: Re: MCI Gave me a Deal Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 21:10:46 PDT Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016 In article glen@cs.wisc.edu (Glen Ecklund) writes: > MCI called yesterday, and made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. > 50% off on all calls for six months. After that, 50% off on calls to > MCI customers (no list required) and 25% off (if I recall correctly) > to everyone else. No offense to MCI, but that sort of reminds me of an old Firestone ad: "Firestone Tires stop 40% faster" Of course, they fail to mention what they stop 40% faster than. So, if they mean 50% of the AT&T price for a similar call, that is one thing, but if it is just 50% off of their imaginary rates, I would do a bit more homework ... Daniel J. McDonald home: mcdonald@teleport.com Telecom Designer work: 2397@idchq.attmail.com Industrial Design Corporation pots: 1.503.653.6919 ------------------------------ From: John Gutman Subject: Re: MCI Gave me a Deal Date: 4 Feb 1995 17:50:09 GMT > MCI called yesterday, and made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. > 50% off on all calls for six months. After that, 50% off on calls to > MCI customers (no list required) and 25% off (if I recall correctly) > to everyone else. I received the same type of marketing call from MCI, and the salesman said that MCI would match any plan that I already had, including an AT&T Reach Out America calling plan with no calling card surcharge on the weekends that is no longer offered to new customers. John Gutman UC Berkeley ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Dick Tracy Tackles Hackers! Date: Sun, 05 Feb 1995 23:50:00 CST So after going outside early Sunday morning in very bitter (one degree above zero) weather to steal my neighbor's copy of the {Chicago Sunday Tribune} before he woke up and saw me out there, I immediatly turned to the section of the paper I never miss. No, not the front section news. Not Perspective, or the editorial pages or the Sunday Magazine. I ripped the six pound, five hundred page paper apart looking through all the innards, the Marshall Field advertising, the grocery coupons and such looking for the Sunday color comics so I could go sit in my kitchen in a stupor with a cup of coffee and see what Mary Worth, Blondie and Dagwood, Beatle Bailey, Brenda Starr and the others had going this week. A new serial began with Dick Tracy this Sunday, and you will surely all want to follow it. It seems a hacker has broken into computers all over town and is wreaking havoc. A cash machine spits out thousands of dollars to a man who requested twenty dollars. Computers in companies display pictures of Santa Claus in a 'wanted poster'. The telephone exchange is okay so far, but the story line hints it will soon be disrupted. No doubt over the next few weeks Dick Tracy, his partner Sam and that lady detective will catch the miscreant hackerphreak responsible for all this mischief and bring him to justice, comic page style. Does someone want to summarize it here each day for the duration for the benefit of people who don't get Dick Tracy in their paper? I get the {Chicago Tribune} most days -- by the way, 'Dick Tracy' belongs to the {Tribune} you know, or did you know? -- but they send him out across the nation daily via the syndicate. Anyway, I am sure it should be a very amusing and interesting little story over the next month or so, three picture frames daily and nine on Sunday with bubble messages in each. If someone wants to save me the trouble, let me know. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #79 *****************************