TELECOM Digest Thu, 23 Feb 95 16:37:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 116 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T True Rewards Program - Help Me Out (TELECOM Digest Editor) CFP: ACM's Wireless Conference '95 (Change of Date/Location) (Victor Bahl) Source Inc Web Page Correction (Todd Bruning) Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Eric A. Carr) Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" (Gerald Serviss) Information Wanted About DMS Switches (David Vardy) Re: What is DMS-100? (Bill Brasuell) Re: What is DMS-100? (John Brandte) 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. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ************************************************************************ * * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent- * * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************ * Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 16:02:34 CST From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: AT&T True Rewards Program - Help Me Out Today in the mail I got my (apparently) quarterly statement from the AT&T True Rewards program which says I now have aquired 469 points. For those not familiar with the program, points are awarded to AT&T residence subscribers who have enrolled in the program at the rate of one point for every dollar spent on AT&T long distance each month. Any month (starting in May) that you spend more than $75 per month on AT&T long distance calls you get two points for every dollar. All domestic and international calls carried by AT&T count toward this program including calls made with an AT&T calling card. Exceptions are calls which are billed direct rather than through a local telco, and calls to Alliance 700 Teleconferencing. Those do not earn points. Neither do long distance calls made from cellular or marine phones, or calls to 900 Multiquest numbers. Other than that -- basically, all your regular, routine long distance calls via AT&T from your home phone which are billed by your local telco count toward True Rewards. In addition to point-per-dollar rewards, there are other ways to earn rewards: If you move, notify AT&T of your new address and phone number; you get 100 bonus points. If someone signs up for AT&T residence long distance service and gives you as the referral, you get 300 bonus points. Points can be redeemed at any time when you have at least 100. They can be redeemed for various things: $5 credit toward your AT&T bill for every 100 points. (You get those 'pay to the order of the telephone company' credit slips to redeem with your phone bill.) If you prefer, you get $5 cash back for every 100 points or you have it credited to your AT&T Universal Visa or Mastercard instead. (They send you a check in your name.) You can also have $5 for every 100 points credited to your paging/messaging service account with McCaw, Interlink, Airsignal, Telepage Northwest or Vegas Communications. Five frequent flyer miles on Delta, United, or (god forbid! I don't want to die yet!) US Air for each 100 points is another option. Disney is in on this also, and points can be redeemed for service from the Disney Channel or their catalog. One thing AT&T stressed was that 'point pooling' is allowed, and encouraged. All you have to do is tell them you want to transfer your True Rewards points to someone else; they'll be happy to do it. They said having two or three people sign up for AT&T residential service (300 points each) along with transfer of points from people who have collected them but are not interested in redeeming them could 'result in someone having hundreds, or even thousands of points in a very short time ...' The thing which appeals to me is the credit on my local telco bill and here is how YOU can help: If you have been meaning to possibly send a donation to the Digest but have not gotten around to it yet -- or maybe you just don't have the money to spare -- then you can use this round-about way of helping instead. If you intend at some point in the near future to sign up for AT&T residential service, do it through this special phone number: Call 1-800-383-6158. The representative will switch you to AT&T for free and enroll you in True Rewards. Give the representative REFERRAL NUMBER : BY-6195039315666. Tell the representative to apply the 300 bonus points to that account. Everytime someone switches to AT&T in this way, I get the points. Got more than one line at your place? Feel like giving one of them to AT&T? If you are not interested in participating in True Rewards but got a statement recently from AT&T with your point balance shown you can also help. Mine arrived by bulk mail today so I assume there are lots of these in the mail now. Do this: Call 1-800-869-9900. Tell the representative your True Rewards account number which is printed on the bottom of the statement they sent you. Tell the representative to transfer all of your points to my telephone number 708-329-0570. As the points come in from new subscribers to AT&T who use my referral number and as points come in from transfers out of accounts where they are not wanted, I'll redeem them for credit on my always high, frequently delinquent phone bill. (I haven't gotten cut off once yet this year, I'll have you know! Not only that, since I got my last 'deferred payment plan' agreement finished a few months ago I am eligible to stall by starting another one if absolutely necessary.) If you do sign up using my referral number or transfer your unwanted True Rewards points, please send me email and let me know so I have an idea what's going on. You have to call the two numbers shown above to do all this; the regular representatives on the published numbers they use can't handle it. Thank you very much! Patrick Townson TELECOM Digest Editor ------------------------------ From: bahl@samson.enet.dec.com (Victor Bahl) Subject: CFP: ACM's Wireless Conference '95 (Change of Date/Location) Date: 22 Feb 1995 17:34:33 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Reply-To: bahl@samson.enet.dec.com (Victor Bahl) Announcement and Call for Papers FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOBILE COMPUTING AND NETWORKING 1995 November 14-15, 1995 (Tutorials on Monday, Nov. 13) Berkeley, California, USA Sponsored by the ACM's Special Interest Groups: SIGCOMM, SIGMETRICS SIGOPS, SIGMOD (pending), SIGACT and CESDIS NASA The wireless communication revolution is bringing fundamental changes to telecommunication and computing. Wide-area cellular systems and wireless LANs promise to make integrated networks a reality and provide fully distributed and ubiquitous mobile computing and communications, thus bringing an end to the tyranny of geography. Furthermore, services for the mobile user are maturing and are poised to change the nature and scope of communication. This conference, the first of an annual series, will serve as the premier international forum addressing networks, systems, algorithms, and applications that support the symbiosis of portable computers and wireless networks. PAPERS Technical papers describing previously unpublished, original, completed, or in-progress research, are solicited on topics at the link layer and above. Topics will include, but are not limited to: * Applications and computing services supporting the mobile user. * Network architectures, protocols or service algorithms to cope with mobility, limited bandwidth, or intermittent connectivity. * Design and analysis of algorithms for online and mobile environments. * Distributed network protocols. * Performance characterization of mobile/wireless networks and systems. * Network management for mobile and wireless networks. * Service integration and interworking of wired and wireless networks. * Characterization of the influence of lower layers on the design and performance of higher layers. * Security, scalability and reliability issues for mobile/wireless systems * Wireless Multimedia Systems * Satellite Communication All papers will be refereed by the program committee. Accepted papers will be published in conference proceedings. Papers of particular merit will be selected for publication in the ACM/Baltzer Journal on Wireless Networks. HOW TO SUBMIT Paper submission will be handled electronically. Authors should Email a PostScript version of their full paper to: "mcn95-submission@cs.columbia.edu". This Email address will become operational on March 1. The address will be backed by software that can test submissions for print- ability. In order to pass the test, authors should ensure that their papers meet these restrictions: - PostScript version 2 or later - no longer than 15 pages - fits properly on "US Letter" size paper (8.5x11 inches) - reference only Computer Modern or standard Adobe fonts (i.e., Courier, Times Roman, or Helvetica); other fonts may be used but must be included in the PostScript file In addition, authors should be sure to select an easy-to-read font size. The proceedings will be printed in two-column format, so authors are encouraged to submit two-column papers. To learn how to use the submission software, send a message with the body "HELP" to the above Email address any time on or after March 1. TUTORIALS Proposals for tutorials are solicited. Evaluation of the proposals will be based on expertise and experience of instructors, and the relevance of the subject matter. Potential instructors are requested to submit at most 5 pages, including a biographical sketch to Krishan Sabnani (kks@big.att.com). PANELS Panels are solicited that examine innovative, controversial, or otherwise provocative issues of interest. Panel proposals should not exceed more than 3 pages, including biographical sketches of the panelist. STUDENT PARTICIPATION Papers with a student as a primary author will enter a student paper award competition. A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for the student paper competition. IMPORTANT DATES Submissions due: April 3, 1995 Notification of acceptance: June 16, 1995 Camera-ready version due: August 14, 1995 For More Information: Please contact Dan Duchamp (djd@cs.columbia.edu) or Baruch Awerbuch (baruch@blaze.cs.jhu.edu), the Program Co-Chairs. WWW/GOPHER INFORMATION This CFP and other ACM related activities may be found in gopher://gopher.acm.org (for gopher viewers) http://info.acm.org/ (for WWW browsers) GENERAL CO-CHAIRS: Imrich Chlamtac Dave Morgan Dept. of Electrical & Computer Eng. VP & Director of Research University of Massachusetts Wireless Division, Motorola chlamtac@eden.ecs.umass.edu David_Morgan-ASTF39@email.mot.com Tel: +1 413 545 0712 Tel.: +1 708 576 0595 PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Baruch Awerbuch Dan Duchamp Dept. of Computer Science Dept. of Computer Science The John Hopkins University Columbia University Room NEB 318, Baltimore, MD 500 W. 120 St. New York, NY baruch@blaze.cs.jhu.edu djd@cs.columbia.edu Tel.: +1 410 516 8038 Tel.: +1 212 939 7067 Fax.: +1 410 516 6134 Fax.: +1 212 666 0140 LOCAL CHAIR TUTORIAL CHAIR Eric Brewer Krishan Sabnani, AT & T Dept. of Computer Science Tel.: +1 908 949 3557 University of California @ Berkeley Fax.: +1 908 949 9118 brewer@cs.berkeley.edu kks@big.att.com VICE CHAIR STEERING COMMITTEE CHAIR Chris Edmondson-Yurkanan Imrich Chlamtac CS, University of Texas, Austin ECE, University of Massachusetts dragon@cs.utexas.edu chlamtac@eden.ecs.umass.edu PUBLICITY CHAIR REGISTERATION CHAIR Victor Bahl, Melody Moh Digital Equipment Corp. & UMASS San Jose State University bahl@samson.enet.dec.com moh@cs.sjsu.edu TREASURER Anton Dahbura, Motorola PROGRAM COMMITTEE Baruch Awerbuch, John Hopkins B. R. Badrinath, Rutgers U., Alan Borodin, U. Toronto Bob Broderson, UC Berkeley, Ramon Caceres, AT&T Bell Labs. Steve Deering, Xerox PARC, Dan Duchamp, Columbia Domenico Ferrari, UC Berkeley David Johnson, Carnegie Mellon, Phil Karn, Qualcomm Inc. Randy Katz, UC Berkeley Leonard Kleinrock, UCLA, Paul Leach, Microsoft Debasis Mitra, AT&T, Christos Papadimitriou, UC San Diego Rafi Rom, Technion & SUN, Nachum Shacham, SRI Jeff Vitter, Duke U., John Zahorjan, U. Washington STEERING COMMITTEE Imrich Chlamtac, chlamtac@eden.ecs.umass.edu Chair Lyman Chapin, lyman@bbn.com SIGCOMM Chair Raj Jain, jain@acm.org SIGCOMM Vice Chair Chris Edmondson, dragon@cs.utexas.edu SIGCOMM Sec/Treasurer Dave Oran, oran@lkg.dec.com SIGCOMM editor Greg Wetzel, G_F_Wetzel@att.com SIGCOMM Info Services Vint Cerf, *vcerf@isoc.org SIGCOMM Prev. Chair Ian Akyildiz, ian@armani.gatech.ed Pat McCarren, mccarren@acm.org ACM Headquaters Baruch Awerbuch, baruch@blaze.cs.jhu.edu SIGACT rep. Linda Wright, wright@linda.enet.dec.com SIGMETRICS rep. Tomasz Imielinski, imielins@cs.rtugers.edu SIGMOD rep. ------------------------------ From: source@unicomp.net (Todd Bruning / Kelly Jones) Subject: Source Inc Web Page Correction Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 16:44:02 Organization: UniComp Technologies International Corp -- Internet Service Boy, oh boy. Go to all the trouble to put up a web page and then give the wrong url address. Hope the boss doesn't find out. Anyway, the Source, Inc home page address is: http://www.sourcetele.com/sourcetele. Come by and visit. We have all kinds of interesting telephony stuff. Source, Inc., Telecom Sales and Support - 214.450.2700 Visit our home page for telecom gear and technical information, http://www.sourcetele.com/sourcetele, E-mail source@unicomp.net ------------------------------ From: mds@access.digex.net (Michael D. Sullivan) Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" Date: 23 Feb 1995 04:31:17 -0500 Organization: Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer & Quinn (Washington, DC, USA) rick.edwards@cabin.com (Rick Edwards) writes: úÿ > 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? Yes, as part of a defined data stream. It's encoded, but not encrypted. > 2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently > ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)? Autonomous registration is a feature built into the standard, but there is no requirement that carriers use it. For several years in the beginning, it wasn't used. Perhaps Airtouch in LA doesn't use it because of the overhead that would be taken up in a system composed of small cells and lots of phones. > 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). No idea. If the unit goes out of range, it re-registers when it comes back in range. I don't believe this happens when just moving from cell to cell. There would be FAR too much overhead, with little productive results. > 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.) When multiple phones respond in an interfering manner, they get no response. The standard calls for them to wait a quasi-random time and retry. Each phone will likely wait a different quasi-random time, thus avoiding collisions somewhat. > 5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto- registration) > when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)? A page is sent out over the control channel IDing the addressed phone. This could be done over an entire system more or less simultaneously, or it could be done over sub-systems, or it could be done cell-by-cell, depending on the system engineering and whether the switch has some idea where to look. Michael D. Sullivan | INTERNET E-MAIL TO: mds@access.digex.net Bethesda, Md., USA | also avogadro@well.com, 74160.1134@compuserve.com ------------------------------ From: Carr-C10973@email.mot.com (Eric A. Carr) Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" Organization: Motorola MIRS Infrastructure Engineering Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 10:23:28 -0600 In article , rick.edwards@cabin.com (Rick Edwards) wrote: (questions regarding registration deleted for clarity) Registration is a process where the mobile radio ("cellular phone") registers itself with the system with or without user intervention. The process essentially identifies the mobile and/or gives an indication as to it's status within the system to the MTSO. Registration occurs when a call is originated by the mobile (sending "access information"), or without user intervention at initial powerup and periodically while the mobile is within the coverage area and turned on ("periodic registration" -- some people use the term "autonomous registration"). Whether the registration is periodic or not, the mobile sends access information. Amoung other things sent on the reverse control channel during registration, the mobile sends MIN, ESN, SCM (Station Class Mark). On a mobile originated call, dialed digits are also sent. Periodic registration is optional; a flag is set in the overhead message on the forward control channel that informs the mobile whether or not it needs to perform periodic registration. Periodic registration is further specified as to whether radios in their home service area (REGH field in the overhead message) or roamers (REGR field in the overhead message) need to perform periodic registration. In order to avoid periodic registration attempts by all mobile subscribers at once, a certain procedure is used to determine when the mobile should perform the process. Upon powerup, the mobile generates an initial random number in it's internal registration register which determines it's initial registration attempt. After the mobile performs the initial periodic registration, the registration register in the mobile is incremented by a constant value in the overhead message ("REGINC" field), sort of like a clock. Included in the overhead message is the field REGID, to which the mobile compares the value of it's internal registration register. When the value of the registration register reaches the value of REGID, periodic registration occurs. Typical periodic registration times vary by systems and is determined by software setting of the REGINC field. I think it's usually around 20 - 30 minutes. Eric Carr ------------------------------ From: serviss@tazdevil.cig.mot.com (Gerald Serviss) Subject: Re: Cellular "Auto-Registration" Date: 23 Feb 1995 14:41:24 GMT Organization: Cellular Infrastructure Group, Motorola In article , Rick Edwards wrote: > There has been an ongoing discussion on another network regarding > "auto-registration" in the present analog NAMPS system. It appears that First registration is no different on AMPS or NAMPS or even IS-54 TDMA. They all fundamentally use the AMPS control channel signalling protocol. > 1) Does the individual phone transmit it's MIN/ESN pair on powerup after > finding an appropriate control channel? It does not have to. The mobile station will only register if it needs to The need is defined by the data broadcast on the forward control channel. The specific data that the mobile looks are are the SID (system ID) and the REGID (registration ID). A new SID will cause the mobile to register and if the REGID is far enough away from the last value recorded in the mobile it will register. > 2) If indeed the phone transmits it's ID upon powerup, why is it apparently > ignored by some systems (AirTouch in Los Angeles)? I can't answer this without more specific information. What symptoms are you observing that would lead to this conclusion? > 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). There can be fixed or area registration, which will cause the mobile to register only when it moves into a new area. There is also time base registration which will cause the mobile to register periodically. I have seen systems use intervals in the range of 30 minutes to several days. > 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.) Collisions of what ? The ESN is a value assigned by the manufacturer of the unit. The MINS are controlled by the operator. The methods for assigning MINS are the same as used by landline operators. > 5) How do cellular systems treat older phones (without auto- registration) > when trying to ring them (phone call to phone)? All phones even the oldest should support registration. If not then get a new one. :-). If the phone can not register and the system "loses" the phone any mobile termination attempt will typically be directed to an announcement. The alternative would be a broadcast page to all areas of a system. If you get lost, make a call from the mobile to any phone and this should reregister you in the system. Jerry Serviss Motorola Inc serviss@rtsg.mot.com ------------------------------ From: vardy@engr.mun.ca (Vardy David) Subject: Information Wanted About DMS Switches Date: 23 Feb 1995 01:18:22 GMT Organization: Faculty of Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland Hi! I'm an electrical engineering student preparing for my first interiview with my first big telecommunications company. I was wondering if anyone could give me a simple description (or complex if you have time) of what a DMS Switch is and what it does. What does DMS stand for? What kind of maintenance and software is required to maintain it? If anyone could answer these or other questions it would be greatly appreciated ( and it might even get me a job :-) )! D. Andrew Vardy Faculty of Engineering, Memorial University St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, you are getting in during the middle of a thread which began a few days ago about the DMS-100 and perhaps the final two messages in this issue of the Digest will give you the information you are seeking. PAT] ------------------------------ From: brasuell_bill@tandem.com (Bill Brasuell) Subject: Re: What is DMS-100? Organization: Tandem Computers Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 23:24:20 GMT In article , gregicg@cadvision.com (Greg Habstritt) wrote: >> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are >> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my >> prefix would be affected. The letter also states: >> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to >> send or receive call? > I would guess you won't have any problems at all in the conversion. It > sounds like a typical phone company, warning people that their lives may > change as a result of work they are doing. > A DMS-100 is a Northern Telecom "switch" that is installed in the CO. > It's the actual switch, controlling all network in that particular > area (as they say, "within that switch"). > Sounds like they have to add another switch because they need more > capacity that what they have installed presently. Other than your > prefix changing (prefixes generally can't be shared across switches ... > Centrex is an exception), I wouldn't expect much else to change. > Bottom line is that plain old telephone service (POTS) is POTS. It > won't affect your modem dialing, etc. God only knows why they would > even send out such a notice, because other than your prefix probably > changing, you probably won't notice anything different at all. For ISDN: DMS-100 switches require SPIDs (Service Profile IDs) for ISDN lines. #5ESS do not require SPIDS. Also ISDN TAs usually need to know what type of CO they are "talking to" so a TA reconfiguration may be needed. Bill Brasuell Tandem Computers Inc. ------------------------------ From: john_brandte@ftl03.racal.com (John Brandte) Subject: Re: What is DMS-100? Organization: Racal-Datacom, Sunrise, FL Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 14:25:29 GMT In article gregicg@cadvision.com (Greg Habstritt) writes: >> I just got a letter from Pac Bell stating that on 10 March they are >> going to install DMS-100 at the Los Angeles Central office and that my >> prefix would be affected. The letter also states: >> What can I expect in the way of problems, if any, using a modem to >> send or receive call? Slightly off the subject but this may be of interest. We have notived that for BRI ISDN TAs, the DMS-100 switch is a little different than the 5-ESS. Product that meets NISDN-1 and works on the 5-ESS needs to have a few more changes to work with the DMS-100. I talked to a customer yesterday that is implementing ISDN that also noticed that it was harder to shake out service on DMS-100s. So, I can't say that it would be the same for POTS type service, but clearly there are some concerns. For critical applications, I would not ignor the warning. For casual use, you have time to work out problems as you find them. John Brandte Racal-Datacom ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #116 ******************************