TELECOM Digest Mon, 20 Feb 95 20:37:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 109 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Minding Your Cybermanners on the Internet" by Rose (R Slade) Cellular "Auto-Registration (Rick Edwards) Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number (Douglas Reuben) About 36XX Numbers in France (Romain Fournols) Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Danny Burstein) Technopolitics: New Pre-Airdate PBS Transcript of Debate (Jeff Richards) Pair Gain Line Problem, Please Help (Matt Lennig) Voice Mail/Office Premise Forwarding/Conference? (Sam Seidman) Request For Information About SDH (Willy Gan) Residential Pre-Pay Service (Keith Laaks) Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements (Mark Douglas) Reprogramming a Cellular Phone (Wayne Linville) A Tip When Working With Electricity (Bob Mueller) 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: 500-677-1616 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, 19 Feb 1995 22:16:37 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: "Minding Your Cybermanners on the Internet" by Rose BKCBRMNR.RVW 950120 "Minding Your Cyber-Manners on the Internet", Rose, 1994, 1-56761-521- X, U$12.99/C$16.99 %A Donald Rose drose@pro-palmtree.socal.com %C 201 West 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46290 %D 1994 %G 1-56761-521-X %I Alpha Books %O U$12.99/C$16.99 75141.2102@compuserve.com %P 194 %T "Minding Your Cyber-Manners on the Internet" Ignoring the "smiley" books (BKSMILEY.RVW and BKSMLDCT.RVW) and one rather generic guide to grammar, out of the hundreds of books published so far on the subject of the Internet, this is only the second to be devoted to the etiquette of network communications (after Shea's "Netiquette", cf BKNTQUTT.RVW). It is a valuable and worthwhile addition. Coverage of the topic is very broad-ranging, although it is not, perhaps, complete. The material is very practical, with lists of do's and don'ts, summaries, and question-and-answer sections. Rose has a professional grasp of humour, and it is used extensively and effectively throughout. The book is not without problems. There is a shortage of explanation of the "why" on various topics. There is a chapter on how flames start (and a pretty good one) -- but not until chapter six. Rose recommends against the spread of "dying child" letters--but doesn't explain the situation behind the Craig Shergold stories, nor the related "Neiman-Marcus cookie" legend or the "FCC Modem Tax" rumours. He mentions the frequent administrative mis-posts on mailing lists, but not how to avoid doing them. Some specific recommendations are questionable. He suggests the use of abbreviations and "cyberese" (the acronyms of common phrases, like BTW for "by the way") as a means of keeping messages short. This is no longer considered good etiquette, as it is highly confusing to newcomers -- and oldtimers as well, in certain cases. (In fact, the book contradicts itself at this point, recommending both for and against abbreviations, on a single page.) (Some may also consider the repeated promotion of Kent's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Internet" (BKIDTINT.RVW) and "The Complete Idiot's Next Step on the Internet" (sorry, haven't seen it yet) almost to constitute "spamming" within this book, itself.) I definitely recommend this work for all Internet users, and particularly newcomers. I very much hope future editions will extend a work well begun. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKCBRMNR.RVW 950120. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest. 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: rick.edwards@cabin.com (Rick Edwards) Subject: Cellular "Auto-Registration" Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:29:00 GMT Organization: The Charlatan's Cabin BBS, Los Angeles CA (213) 654-7337 There has been an ongoing discussion on another network regarding "auto-registration" in the present analog NAMPS system. It appears that no one on that network can give a definitive answer as to exactly how it works. So I am leaving a message here hoping (knowing) that someone will have the correct answers. Some of the questions we have regarding auto-registration on a cellular phone (system) are: 1) Does the individual phone transmit it's MIN/ESN pair on powerup after finding an appropriate control channel? 2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)? 3) What would be the typical amount of time between auto-registration requests on most cellular systems? (I know this varies on system usage, software, etc. but would like a "ballpark" number). 4) How exactly does the cellular system request an ID from each phone and keep it orderly? (IE..does it go by ESNs? How are collisions prevented from multiple phones? etc.) 5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto- registration) when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)? I'm sure I've skipped a couple of obvious questions but if someone could enlighten me with answers to these questions, I would greatly appreciate it. Regards, Rick Edwards ------------------------------ From: dreuben@netcom.com (CID Tech/INSG) Subject: Weird "Prime Number" and Other Messages 800 Number Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 14:03:02 PST Late one night last week, while trying to reprogram one of my own 800 numbers, I accidentally dialed (800) 254-0133. What I got was: " The number you have reached, 6 7 7 - 4 4 4 4, is not a working number. It's prime factors are 2 and 3,387,2222 (or something). Thank you". I tried it a number of times, and it kept giving me the same thing. Today, just to convince myself that I did indeed hear that, I tried it again, but this time got: The number you have reach, 677-4444 is not is service ... Bucko!". Anyhow, just another 800 forwarded to some weird destination, I guess. Doug dreuben@netcom.com CID Technologies/Interpage NSG (203) 499 - 5221 ------------------------------ Date: 20 Feb 95 11:52:46 EST From: ROMAIN FOURNOLS <100431.1672@compuserve.com> Subject: About 36XX Numbers in France Here are some information about special numbers, toll free and special charges services/calls, in France for anybody interested in. Here you have a list of the special 36XX or 36XXXXXX numbers for special use (update in 1994). First 4 Digits Service Number 3600 No more used 3600 3601 KIOSQUE MICRO (computer charge calls) 3601XXXX 3602 TRANSPAC (data transmisssion) 3602 3603 TRANSPAC (data transmisssion) 3603 3605 TOLL-FREE TELETEL (MINITEL) Calls 3605XXXX 3606 TRANSPAC (data transmisssion) 36062424 3607 Minitel test number (France Telecom use) 360736XX 3608 TRANSPAC(data transmisssion) 36086464 3609 ALPHAPAGE (pager, messages sent by minitel) 3609XXXX 3610 France Telecom Calling Card Number 3610 3611 Electronic directory by minitel (DOM-TOM) 3611 3612 MINICOM (Special Mail by Minitel) 3612 3613 VIDEOTEX TELETEL1 (Minitel 1st rate) 3613 3614 VIDEOTEX TELETEL2 (Minitel 2nd rate) 3614 3615 VIDEOTEX TELETEL3 (Minitel 3rd rate) 3615 3616 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel 4th rate) 3616 3617 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel 5th rate) 3617 3618 COM. MINITEL A MINITEL (Minitel to Minitel use) 3618 3619 TELETEL INT'L (Minitel services based in foreign countries) 3619 3621 STANDARD ASCII (Minitel in 80 culumns) 3621 3622 No more used 3622 3623 TELETEL HIGH SPEED (4800 & 9600 b/s) 3623XXXX 3624 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3624XXXX 3625 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3625XXXX 3626 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3626XXXX 3627 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3627XXXX 3628 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3628XXXX 3629 KIOSQUE TELEMATIQUE PROF. (Minitel) 3629XXXX 3643 INT'L MINITEL ACCESS NUMBER 36431111 3644 TEST NUMBER (Ring Back) 3644 3650 FT Calling card by operator 3650 3653 TELEX 3653 3655 TELEGRAMMES TELEPHONES 3655 3656 TELEGRAMMES PAR MINITEL 3656 3658 Consumers Service 3658 3660 ALPHAPAGE (pager, messages sent by operator) 36605050 3661 OPERATOR (pager, messages sent by operator) 36616136 3663 NUMERO AZUR (toll-free Number, charged as a local call) 3663XXXX 3664 AUDIOTEL (premium services, as "900" numbers) 3664XXXX 3665 AUDIOTEL 5 UT 3665XXXX 3666 AUDIOTEL MEDIA 3666XXXX 3667 AUDIOTEL 3667XXXX 3668 AUDIOTEL 3668XXXX 3670 AUDIOTEL 3670XXXX 3672 MEMOPHONE (Vocal box inside your area) 3672 3673 MEMOPHONE (Vocal box outside your area) 3673XXXX 3699 Speaking real-time clock 3699 KIOSQUE TELEPHONIQUE (Special charges numbers) Numbers Max. time per call Rate 3664XXXX 0,73FF/mn 3665XXXX 2mn 20s 3,65FF/call 3666XXXX 2mn 20s 3,65FF/call 3667XXXX 20mn 1,46FF/mn 3668XXXX 20mn 2,19FF/mn 3670XXXX 20mn 8,76FF/call + 2,19FF/mn TOLL FREE NUMBERS ("800" numbers) Begin by 05 and 6 digits, international toll-free numbers from France to other countries begin 0590 and four digits. SERVICES Call waiting enable : *43# Call waiting disable : #43# (free to use, 10FF monthly fee) Call transfer : *21#phone_number# Call transfer cancel : #21# (0,73FF per call/change) Time reminder service : *55*TIME# (charged 3,65FF per call) Does somebody send me the rates of your "900" numbers ? Sorry of my poor English, If you have any questions about French telecom system, don't hesitate to contact me. Romain FOURNOLS, france Compuserve : 100431,1672 E-mail : 100431.1672@compuserve.com voice : +33 61230075 fax : +33 61228584 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the USA the prices for our 900 numbers varies greatly from one to the next, and there are probably thousands of them in all. Some are as little as 50 cents per minute while others may cost $40-50 dollars for the entire call of three or four minutes. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) Subject: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO Date: 20 Feb 1995 11:17:49 -0500 After the Mitnick capture, NETCOM sent a letter to its customers. I've excerpted a key portion of it, in which they point out that yes, indeed, central offices -do- keep track of the CNID of incoming calls. (Other posters in the group have suggested that typically 90 days are kept online, just like with outgoing smdr.) >From alt.2600 Fri Feb 17 18:50:14 1995 From: emmanuel@well.sf.ca.us (Emmanuel Goldstein) Newsgroups: alt.2600 Subject: Netcom announcement on Mitnick Date: 17 Feb 1995 11:23:57 GMT NETCOM HELPS PROTECT THE INTERNET - A Letter from CEO Bob Rieger to Our Customers - I know many of you are interested in NETCOM's involvement with the arrest of Kevin Mitnick, and how this may impact you, if at all, as a NETCOM subscriber. First, let me supply a chronology of events: [lots of self abuse ^H^H^H praise deleted] -> 8. At that point, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed the local -> telephone carrier for records of dial-ins at specific times to this -> modem. It became apparent that the telephone company's switch equipment -> had been compromised, so that these records could not be obtained. -> However, the Justice Department found another method for making a match. 9. With this information, the Justice Department knew the approximate location of the originating call. 10. Mr. Shimomura flew to Raleigh and used cellular tracking equipment to locate the apartment building the calls were coming from. Eventually, the calls were traced to an individual apartment, and Mr. Mitnick was arrested. dannyb@panix.com (or dburstein@mcimail.com) ------------------------------ From: Jeff Richards Subject: Technopolitics: New Pre-Airdate PBS Transcript of Debate Date: 20 Feb 1995 03:14:48 GMT Organization: Capital Area Internet Service info@cais.com 703-448-4470 As of Friday evening, now has a new transcript of debate between Pacific Telesis Vice President Ron Stowe and AT&T Vice President Mike Brown. Taped earlier this week for the PBS public affairs show "TechnoPolitics," the program is scheduled to begin airing nationally on Feb. 24. (It will be broadcast in the Washington area on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. on WETA, Channel 26.) Stowe said that large business customers already have a choice of local carriers, but that long distance companies are not interested in serving residential customers because the cost of their service is subsidized by the business users. See the full comments, context and points of debate in the transcript. úÿ Given the growing interest across the Internet in telecom reform this year, is a growing resource. The site is accessed by gopher at , or the web at You can also subscribe to the listserver to get telecom updates. Send mail to . In the body of the message add four words: SUBSCRIBE BELL YOUR_FIRST _NAME YOUR_LAST_NAME Looking forward to your comments ... Jeff Richards The Alliance for Competitive Communications & Pacific Telesis Group Internet: richards@bell.com and SUBSCRIBE BELL YOUR_LAST YOUR_FIRSTNAME +1 202 973-5307 voice 1133-21st NW #700 +1 202 973-5351 TDD Washington DC 20036-3349 +1 202 973-5341 fax +1 800 SKY-PAGE pin 8550304 +1 202 383-6445 2nd office ------------------------------ From: Matt Subject: Pair Gain Line Problem, Help! Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 15:49:52 -0800 Organization: California State University, Chico I have been told by a Pac Bell (i'm in CA) tech that the reason that I cannot connect above 9600 is because I'm on a "Pair Gain" line to the C.O. My roommate has no problem, the tech says he's on a copper line to the C.O. Problem: Pac Bell refuses to change me over to a copper line, saying that they are only required to provide a 'voice-grade' line which only has to support transfer speed of 1200 bps (HA HA HA HA HA). What can I do? Does anyone have a work-around? Has anyone experienced this same problem? I've tried four different modems, all with the same problem. But if I use my roommate's line, everything works great! (For practical reasons, I can't use his line all the time, he runs a business on it). Any help would be appreciated. Regards, Matt ------------------------------ From: seidman@hookup.net (Sam Seidman) Subject: Voice Mail/Office Premise Forwarding/Conference Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 06:20:39 Organization: HookUp Communication Corporation, Oakville, Ontario, CANADA We have voice mail on our phone system and wish to give the user a choice to push "3" for a live operator. We would like to then conference the caller on the same line with a preprogrammed number using the telephone company's three way calling feature and connect them to a live operator. Is the above possible? I was told by somebody that it is currently not possible but that Northern was coming out with a version of Startalk Plus that would handle this, is this rumour true? The hardware we are using is Meridian Norstar with DR5 software and DS cpu, and Startalk 110. Has anybody been successful in accomplishing the above. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: wgan@netcom.com (willy gan) Subject: Requesting Information About SDH Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 06:22:15 GMT Hello everyone, I'd often seen the words SDH or SDH compatible equipment advertised in data communication magazines. Can anyone explain or give me examples of what SDH stands for? Thanks in advance, Willy Gan wgan@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Truthfully, I don't know if SDH is in the glosssary files at the Archives or not, but something Willy should be aware of and other users as well is the /glossaries sub-directory in the Telecom Archives, available by anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu. PAT] ------------------------------ From: laakswk@telkom04.telkom.co.za (Keith Laaks) Subject: Residential Pre-Pay Service Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 19:43:38 GMT Organization: Telkom South Africa Here in South Africa we experience fraudulent use of the network due to subscription fraud (disappearances after receiving 'self inflicted' huge phone bills), the tapping into the phone lines of innocent victims, and other mechanisms. Questions: 1) Do you know of similar fraud in other networks? 2) What is done to try and prevent such fraud? 3) Has any telco implemented a pre-paid residential service? 4) If so, how does it work? Thanks, Please also email replies to : laakswk@telkom04.telkom.co.za Keith Laaks Email : laakswk@telkom04.telkom.co.za Tel : +27 12 311 1450 Fax : +27 12 311 3492 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Do we know of other instances of toll fraud? Do we? Umm, yes, it is a very severe problem here in the USA. What you term 'prepaid residential service' we refer to as a 'security deposit', and/or payment in advance for the first month's charges. Generally the telcos in the USA accept the references of other telcos for the purpose of establishing service. If you've had service anywhere in the USA then your credit history as far as telco is concerned is available to other telcos for review. Of course, if you live in one area for most of your life and have service from the same phone company most of that time, then they have your record and know about both your ability and willingness to pay. New subscribers with no previous telco (somewhere) payment history are often asked to place an amount of money in escrow or on deposit with telco to cover the estimated billings for a month. After a year or so of good payment history, this money is refunded with interest or placed on your account against your current bill, as you wish. 'Payment in advance' is *not* a security deposit, and does not draw interest. It merely insures that your first month's bill is paid while telco evaluates your 'typical' or 'average' use. A third option used in some cases is called 'interim billing'. Although bills are tendered 12-13 times per year (most telcos bill monthly but some bill every 28 days), in what is known as cycle billing (a group of different customers each day, normally 22 billing cycles per month), for internal use only there is the 'interim billing' which is available to the collectors and credit representatives about two weeks after (or before) the bill mailed to the customer. If this interim billing shows a sudden dramatic increase in charges such as a large number of long distance calls or calls of a great time length causing your bill to exceed its normal balance by some large amount, then they will call you and ask for more money then; this depends on your status with them. If your bill becomes past due, again your status detirmines what action is taken. A new subscriber with a balance two months past due will most likely be cut. Longer subscribers with generally good credit will be allowed longer, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mdouglas@sol.UVic.CA (Mark Douglas) Subject: Wanted: Cellular Channel Measurements Organization: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 02:04:23 GMT I am teaching a university course on mobile communications and am interested in the following data of the received signal at a cellular phone: 1. The signal envelope over time (Rayleigh/Rician) 2. The time delay response (showing delay spread). 3. The power spectrum (frequency domain) Real measured data would be ideal, but simulated data is fine as well. I know that I can generate it myself, but if someone else already has the data, it's less work for me. Thanks, Mark Douglas University of Victoria Victoria, BC, Canada. ------------------------------ From: wayne@bubble.home.net (wayne linville) Subject: Reprogramming a Cellular Phone Date: 20 Feb 1995 04:04:25 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Reply-To: wayne@bubble.home.net (wayne linville) I thought I read an article in here about hard/soft reprogramming a cellular flip phone. Anyone who has any information on this subject, please send mail to me at: wayne@fatman.rmii.com. wayne linville ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Feb 95 13:48:53 +0100 From: Bob Mueller Organization: Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH Subject: A Tip When Working With Electricity Dear Pat, I just read about your experiences with the capacitors in a TV unloading through you and recalled another tip which can prevent a nasty accident. It is related to the thread because auto batteries are part of schemes to revive NiCads. Electrocution from these may be possible (I heard of a case but have no certainty if it really happened), but is quite unlikely. Serious burns are not so uncommon. One should remove metal jewelery, including watch bands and rings when working around these batteries; they can deliver huge currents, enough to spot weld the jewelery, and heat it up to skin burning temperatures in a second or so. Though I have see warnings about this risk for years I did not know of a case until a friend got it wrong a couple months ago. He showed a deep burn around his finger where his wedding ring combined with a wrench to short over the battery terminals. He was lucky; the wound healed and except for the scar he will have gained; he knows very well about being careful next time and may be saved from removing the finger completely. Sincerely, Bob Mueller [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I still have a tiny little scar on my left arm (on the underside, a few inches up from my wrist) which I got from the night thirty years ago or so that I fell asleep at the switchboard. If you remember the old cord switchboards, you will recall the rows of cords with plugs on the end which sat in front of you. About 2 am after several slices of pizza and a quart of beer from earlier in the evening I was feeling drowsy. I had the common audible (buzzer) loud enough it would wake me up, so I folded my arms in front of me as I sat there and put my head down on my arms ... bingo, three minutes later I am out of it. Once before I had done this, and fell asleep with my foot on the buzzer cut off switch; the little button on the floor the operator could tap on to shut the buzzer off when desired ... ... but not this night. This night I would wake up if any calls came to the board which was unlikely ... this was a Friday night and the Sabbath, and the mostly elderly Jewish residents of the South Shore Country Club Apartments would be long tucked in their beds and asleep. South Shore Country Club had a four position manual cordboard; usually three operators on duty during the day and evening, and one overnight. On Friday night and Saturday all day usually one operator was sufficient since the more religious of the tenants in the apartment complex did *not* use the telephone for any reasons those days; nor did they use the elevator. Instead of calling downstairs to the switchboard to get someone at the front desk to come up and light their stove for the sabbath meal they felt it more appropriate to walk down ten flights of stairs to make that request, then walk back upstairs again. Since I am not Jewish, you see, I was under no obligation to observe their laws; I *could* ride the elevator upstairs, light their stove or turn the lights on and off, etc, then ride back downstairs. But I digress ... roomate and I had been out earlier that evening to celebrate something or other ... pizza and beer ... you know that combin- ation ... 11 pm and I have to go to work, running the board at the Country Club until 7 am. By 2 am everything *so* dead ... *so* quiet ... and as noted above I fell asleep. I slept maybe three hours, and about 5:30 am the little alarm clock goes off which means it is time to start making the first of the 'wakeup calls' to the tenants. My arm somehow during the night had gotten up against or on top of that row of plugs, and it laid there most of the night. A little red burn was on my skin where it had been on the tip of that plug all night. I thought it would eventually go away, and the redness went away the next day but the little scar where the direct current lingering in those cords burned my flesh a little never has. Finally, if you ever want to test a battery to see if there is still life in it and you don't have a battery tester, just put the contacts from the battery against the bottom of your tongue ... ... PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #109 ******************************