TELECOM Digest Fri, 24 Feb 95 08:58:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 120 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill! (ACLU Information) Re: MCI Slams Again (Jeff Jelinek) Re: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? (Greg Habstritt) Re: How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short? (Chris Mork) Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API ( Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Benjamin P. Carter) Re: Fax Modems and Voice Lines (K. M. Peterson) Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC (Brendan Dowling) Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted (Jeremy Grigg) Re: What is Loop Start? (Travis Russell) Who Makes T-Coder or Other 2 to 1 T1 mux? (David Friedman) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ACLU Information Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 10:48:53 -0500 Subject: ACLU Cyber-Liberties Alert: Axe the Exon Bill! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although I commented on this topic earlier this week and presented a lengthy commentary on the Exon legislation, its worth mentioning again with a suggestion that you take some stance *now* on this matter. If you did not read and sign the petition circulated here earlier in the week, you might want to go back and read it now, along with this similar message sent by the ACLU. PAT] **ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES ALERT** FIGHT ONLINE CENSORSHIP! AXE THE EXON BILL! The American Civil Liberties Union urges you to contact the members of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee and your own Senators to ask them to oppose the efforts to turn online communications into the most heavily censored form of American media. In a clumsy effort to purge sexual expression from the Internet and other online networks, the self-described "Communications Decency Act of 1995" (S.314, introduced by Senator Exon on 2/2/95) would make ALL telecommunications service providers liable for every message, file, or other content carried on their networks. Senator Exon is planning to attach the bill to Senator Pressler's new telecommunications legislation, which is targeted for action in early March. The Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online information by requiring service providers to act as private censors of e-mail messages, public forums, mailing lists, and archives to avoid criminal liability. The ACLU believes that online users should be the only censors of the content of the information they receive. **The Exon proposal broadens existing law by subjecting service providers, as well as the individuals who actually send messages, to criminal liability for any "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" message transmitted over their networks.** If enacted into law, this vague and overly broad legislation could have the following draconian effects: * The Exon proposal would prohibit communications with sexual content through private e-mail between consenting adults, and would inhibit people from making comments that might or might not be prohibited. * Under the Exon proposal, service providers would pay up to $100,000 or spend up to 2 years in jail for prohibited content produced by subscribers on other networks, over which they had no control. * The Exon proposal would expand current restrictions on telephone access by minors to dial-a-porn services to include online access to indecent material, requiring service providers to purge "indecent" material from public bulletin boards and discussion groups to avoid accidental viewing by a minor. In effect, online providers would be forced to offer to adults only that content that is "suitable for minors." S. 314 is nearly identical to an amendment Senator Exon successfully attached to last year's Senate version of the telecommunications law overhaul. Last year's bill died for unrelated reasons, but the Senate Commerce Committee is determined to pass new telecommunications legislation this year that could easily include the Exon proposal. The ACLU opposes the restrictions on speech imposed by this legislation because they violate the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression. Forcing carriers to pre-screen content violates the Constitution and threatens the free and robust expression that is the promise of the Net. The Constitution requires that any abridgement of speech use the least restrictive means available -- the language of the Exon proposal is clearly the most restrictive because it sweeps broadly against a wide array of protected material involving sexual expression. Stop the information superhighway from becoming the most censored segment of communications media! ACT NOW: Urge members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: *To oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation. *To drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor. *To hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and to review it thoroughly before it goes to the Senate floor. *To reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate telecommunications legislation. THE EXON PROPOSAL COULD BE LAW WITHIN WEEKS IF WE DON'T ACT TODAY. Send your letter by e-mail, fax, or snail mail to: Senator Larry Pressler, S.D. Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation SR-254 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-6125 (202) 224-5842 (phone) (202) 224-1630 (fax) e-mail: larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov To maximize the impact of your letter, you should also write to the members of the Senate Commerce Committee and to your own Senators. A sample letter is attached. Majority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee Senator Bob Packwood, Ore. SR-259 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-3702 (202) 224-5244 (phone) (202) 228-3576 (fax) Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska SH-522 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-0201 (202) 224-3004 (phone) (202) 224-1044 (fax) Senator John McCain, Ariz. SR-111 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-0303 (202) 224-2235 (phone) (202) 228-2862 (fax) Senator Conrad Burns, Mont. SD-183 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2603 (202) 224-2644 (phone) (202) 224-8594 (fax) Senator Slade Gorton, Wash. SH-730 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4701 (202) 224-3441 (phone) (202) 224-9393 (fax) e-mail: senator_gorton@gorton.senate.gov Senator Trent Lott, Miss. SR-487 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2403 (202) 224-6253 (phone) (202) 224-2262 (fax) Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Tex. SH-703 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4303 (202) 224-5922 (phone) (202) 224-0776 (fax) e-mail: senator@hutchison.senate.gov Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Maine SR-174 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1903 (202) 224-5344 (phone) (202) 224-6853 (fax) Senator John Ashcroft, Mo. SH-705 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2504 (202) 224-6154 (phone) (202) 224-7615 (fax) Minority Members of the Senate Commerce Committee Senator Ernest F. Hollings, S.C. SR-125 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4002 (202) 224-6121 (phone) (202) 224-4293 (fax) Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii SH-772 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1102 (202) 224-3934 (phone) (202) 224-6747 (fax) Senator Wendell H. Ford, Ky. SR-173A Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1701 (202) 224-4343 (phone) (202) 224-0046 (fax) e-mail: wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov Senator J. James Exon, Neb. SH-528 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2702 (202) 224-4224 (phone) (202) 224-5213 (fax) Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, W. Va. SH-109 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-4802 (202) 224-6472 (phone) (202) 224-1689 (fax) Senator John F. Kerry, Mass. SR-421 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2102 (202) 224-2742 (phone) (202) 224-8525 (fax) Senator John B. Breaux, La SH-516 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1803 (202) 224-4623 (phone) (202) 224-2435 (fax) Senator Richard H. Bryan, Nev. SR-364 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-2804 (202) 224-6244 (phone) (202) 224-1867 (fax) Senator Byron L. Dorgan, N.D. SH-713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-3405 (202) 224-2551 (phone) (202) 224-1193 (fax) You can also write or fax your own Senator at: The Honorable ______________________ U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510 Senate directories including fax numbers may be found at: gopher://ftp.senate.gov:70 gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/0/socsci/polscilaw/uslegi Additional information about the ACLU's position on this issue and others affecting civil liberties online and elsewhere may be found at: gopher:\\aclu.org:6601 OR request our FAQ at infoaclu@aclu.org ---------cut here--------- SAMPLE LETTER Dear Senator _______: I am writing to urge you to oppose the restrictions on speech that would be imposed by the legislation introduced by Senator Exon, known as the Communications Decency Act of 1995, S.314, introduced on 2/2/95. The Exon proposal would severely restrict the flow of online information by requiring service providers to act as private censors of e-mail messages, public forums, mailing lists, and archives to avoid criminal liability. I believe that online users should be the only censors of the content of the messages they receive. I urge you to: *Oppose the Exon proposal, or any Senate or House variation. *Drop the Exon proposal BEFORE it goes to the Senate floor. *Hold full hearings on the Exon proposal and review it thoroughly before it goes to the Senate floor. *Reject any effort to attach the Exon proposal to the Senate telecommunications legislation. Sincerely, [name] ----------------------------- ACLU Free Reading Room | American Civil Liberties Union gopher://aclu.org:6601 | 132 W. 43rd Street, NY, NY 10036 mailto:infoaclu@aclu.org| "Eternal vigilance is the ftp://ftp.pipeline.com | price of liberty" ------------------------------ From: Jeff Jelinek Subject: Re: MCI Slams Again Organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 19:29:30 GMT I seriously doubt that MCI intends to change an individual PIC for the sole purpose of picking up some LD revenue for a month or so. Big deal. Why would they risk the repercussions of an unauthorized PIC change. Of the hundreds of thousands of PIC changes that take place each month, some of the customer service people will make a mistake. I have not heard of this type of intentional action for many years. Interesting. ------------------------------ From: gregicg@cadvision.com (Greg Habstritt) Subject: Re: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? Date: 24 Feb 1995 22:17:25 GMT Organization: Intellitech Communications Group > Can anyone explain what the acronym "MVIP" stands for? I heard this in > a discussion on IVR. I'm trying to recall the exact wording for MVIP, and I can't find any magazines near my desk with articles naming it. However, I do believe it stands for Multi Vendor Interface Protocol, or something to that effect. Bottom line is that it is a industry standard developed by Natural Micro Systems, a voice processing hardware manufacturer (competitor of Dialogic). It is basically a standard that other vendors can meet, in order to ensure that their equipment is compatible with the NMS architecture. Dialogic has a similar standard called SCSA, hence the big industry battle between MVIP and SCSA (similar to MicroSoft's TAPI against úÿ Novell's TSAPI). Yup, that's what it is. If you really want to know more, call NMS at 1-800-533-6120. gregicg@cadvision.com Greg Habstritt Intellitech Communications Inc. Calgary, Alberta, Canada ------------------------------ From: lotr@iac.net (Chris Mork) Subject: Re: How To Keep Business Phone Calls Short? Date: 23 Feb 1995 10:57:03 -0500 Organization: Internet Access Cincinnati 513-887-8877 Alan Boritz (drharry!aboritz@uunet.uu.net) wrote: > A friend is having some difficulty getting his employees (less than > ten, in a trucking business) to manage their telephone calls reasonably. > He doesn't want to create a hostile environment, but his inwats and > outwats expense is getting out of hand. Has anyone found voice terminals > with interval timers, or any other equipment features, to be helpful > to accomplish that task? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Radio Shack *had* (and maybe still has) such > a thing along with other companies. It goes on the phone line and after a > pre-set period of time you hear a litle tone in the background. You must > then press a key on the phone to restart the timer. After you have done > this often enough, you are supposed to take the hint I guess. PAT] Try getting account codes from the L-D provider. Each employee can only call with their own code and the records show up on the monthly bill. If their calls get out of hand, show them the bill and point out the length of time(s) on their code. Try setting a monthly limit per employee. By the way, these codes must be "validated",(i.e. they use a SPECIFIC number ... say the last four digits of their social security number). Hope this helps! Chris Mork lotr@iac.net ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 13:10:53 -0500 From: stanford@algorhythms.com Subject: Re: Help Needed With Modems for Telephony API All modems support Microsoft's Telephony API, but only if they have a suitable driver. Modem manufacturers have been slow to provide these drivers because Microsoft distributes a free generic modem driver with the TAPI SDK, because Microsoft distributes the source code for a rudimentary voice modem driver free (by ftp "ftp.microsoft.com" and Compuserve "go winext"), and because Microsoft intends to provide a generic modem driver (Unimodem) bundled with Windows 9x. The problem with these Microsoft drivers is that they are limited, since they do not properly support voice features. Also the Unimodem driver appears to be a "dial only" driver since it does not pass rings back to the application. Regular modems are actually poor candidates for TAPI, since they provide meager call control features. Best for telephony are boards like the IBM Mwave, which allow for full duplex speaker phone, touch tone recognition, Caller ID, handset state detection, control over the handset connection to the line and software upgradability to features such as VoiceView. Somewhere between regular modems and Mwave type cards in terms of telephony features are voice/fax/modems, which can record and play sound from the line, but still provide poor status sensing (like handset on/off hook), and which are intrinsically unreliable for two reasons: 1. the burden of voice data through the serial port and 2. the inclusion of status and control signals in-band in the voice data stream. The first of these deficiencies is addressed by some modems, such as those based on chip sets by Sierra and Cirrus that do their voice with DMA rather than through the serial port. Of course modems using this technique must be internal. Plug: My company, AlgoRhythms Incorporated, has written several service providers for various different hardwares, including a generic modem driver that supports voice modems. This driver is not currently commercially available, though it will be bundled with our application software "PhoneKits" when this is released. ------------------------------ From: bpc@netcom.com (Benjamin P. Carter) Subject: Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 21:15:58 GMT dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) writes: > ... 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.) If that is so, then when a customer has received obnoxious phone calls, the telco could provide the incoming IDs for particular conversations that have already taken place. This would be much more helpful than the ineffective services that are now being offered. Some person at the telco would have to access a database to provide the record of a past conversation. They probably won't do this for free unless the PUC decides that they should. On the other hand, many customers who have received obnoxious calls are highly motivated and would probably be willing to pay enough to allow the telco to recover the real cost of providing such a service. The telco might even make a profit. This reasoning assumes that caller ID is not available (as, for example, in California) or that the telco records make it possible to identify a caller when caller ID fails to do so. Also, I assume everyone agrees that the privacy of the caller should not be a consideration if a residential customer claims to be receiving obnoxious calls. The privacy of the callee is certainly more important than that of the caller in this case, and arguably so in all cases. Ben Carter internet address: bpc@netcom.com ------------------------------ From: KMP@portal.vpharm.com (K. M. Peterson) Subject: Re: Fax Modems and Voice Lines Date: 22 Feb 1995 21:28:57 GMT Organization: Vertech Pharmaceuticals Incorporated In article randy@aplcore.jhuapl.edu (Randall C. Poe) writes: > I have been trying to get a fax modem (internal, in a Mac Powerbook) > to work at home, on a line shared with an answering machine and > several voice sets (3). The feature that doesn't work is one the > manufacturer calls "Silent Answer", where it allows other devices to > pick up the phone, then listens in for fax ("CNG"?) tones. When it > hears the fax tones, it is supposed to pick up the phone, causing the > answering machine (for instance) to go offline. > So my question: Assuming this is the problem, is there a quick, > off-the-shelf (cheap) fix? I was unable to get this working on a Supra FaxModem, spending about 20 hours and several email and telephone conversations with the manufacturer. The retailer informed me that many of their customers were similarly unable to get it to work. I went to a ZyXEL for desktop use; I do not believe that they make a PB internal. My advice is to purchase an inexpensive desktop modem for home use. ZyXELs offer "distinctive ring" decoding, which is an alternative to "Silent Answer" requiring "Ringmate" or some other type of distinctive ring service from your local telco. ZyXELs, however, are _not_ inexpensive; if you don't want to go this route call Hello Direct (1-800-HI-HELLO), and order a box from them that will do this discrimination externally and allow you to use any modem you wish. K. M. Peterson ------------------------------ From: umhatter@mcl.ucsb.edu (Brendan Dowling) Subject: Re: Kevin Mitnick Captured in Raleigh, NC Date: 23 Feb 1995 12:20:07 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Barbara In jlundgre@kn.PacBell.COM (John Lundgren) writes: > I would like to see him get the same treatment that the guy in the 'got > milk?' commercial gets. > How long are his arms? Three feet or so? Put a PC with a modem on a > table outside his cell, about a meter or so away from the bars. Of > course, there would be absolutely nothing in the cell to let him > extend his reach. > He would be saying, "Is this what Hell is like?" There are laws against "cruel and unusual punishment". [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't know whether you guys are joking or not ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: jjg@ozemail.com.au (Jeremy Grigg) Subject: Re: Telstra (Australia) Information Wanted Date: 24 Feb 1995 01:03:13 GMT Organization: OzEmail Pty Ltd - Australia Although Telstra is 100% owned by the Government, some elements are less controlled. For example, the yellow pages commercial directories are owned in a consortium with a publisher and several carriers including Bell Canada. And the carrier's pay TV ventures are being run via 50-50 consortia with Microsoft (on-line services) and News Corporation (content). The only analysis on the carrier comes from Moody's which regularly evaluates its credit worthiness. Prospects for the company are good, even though the market will be liberalised in 1997. Although there will be unlimited competition, dominant carriers who control bottlenecks will be forced to offer "commercially-sustainable" tariffs based on network costs. This gives Telstra an incentive to keep its overheads low. ------------------------------ From: russell@trussell.pdial.interpath.net (Travis Russell) Subject: Re: What is Loop Start? Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 20:30:10 +0000 Organization: Travis Russell Reply-To: russell@trussell.pdial.interpath.net (Travis Russell) In article , rj_welsh@ix.netcom.com (RJ WELSH) writes: > These terms are most certainly NOT relative to T1 lines!!! Ther refer > to analog telephone line "start" signals that indicate to the CO > (central office) that an off-hook condition exists and dial tone > services are required. > Loop start means that both battery and ground leads are present and > that ground, therefore, is supplied by the CO. Ground start means that > a local (local to the off-hook instrument) ground is used and represents > a "single-lead" subscriber line. Loop start is commonly used for residential POTS. Uses -48V return to the C.O.. > Ground start lines were and are not often used since the ground > resistance between the subscriber and the CO is unpredictable at best > and conductor pairs (rather than single copper wires) have been in use > for a long time now. Ground start IS used today for PBX trunks. Loop start does not work well on PBX because of glare problems, so ground start is used again. To use laymens terms, instead of relying on ring generator to indicate an incoming call (which is intermittent), the C.O. sends ground on the tip side of the line (which is steady, not intermittent). > Wink start indicates a reversal of battery and ground, typically for > less than 500 milliseconds, and is used for TRUNK, not LINE signalling. Wink start is used for DID LINES. Also used with TIE lines between PBXs. By the way, the definition of a trunk vs. line? A trunk connects two switches together. A line connects a "telephone" with a switch. Semantics ... > I won't waste bandwith correcting misconceptions about T1: buy a > little book and read it. T-1 channel banks are tyipcally optioned for one of the above signaling methods, because they are connected to an analog PBX! The trunk (or line) card coming from the PBX is terminated at a channel bank. The channel bank muxes 24 circuits out to one T-1. The channel bank must use the same signaling as the line card in the PBX, hence the original misconception that these are used for T-1 signaling. Hope this clears up signaling ... Travis Russell russell@trussell.pdial.interpath.net Author of "Signaling System #7" McGraw-Hill, 1995 ------------------------------ From: dfbai@ix.netcom.com (David Friedman) Subject: Who Makes T-Coder or Other 2 to 1 T1 mux? Date: 24 Feb 1995 14:39:59 GMT Organization: Netcom I have heard of a T-Coder which provides 2 T1 framed outputs from 1 T1. When used for voice applications quality is fine. Who makes this unit or some type of similar simple mux? We have an application where a client wants to do some simple, inexpensive drop and insert (wants to split a small number of channels of a T1 and pass them to our equipment which has a direct T1 interface and channel bank the rest). Rather than getting into expensive custom designed drop and insert set up, I thought a T-coder would be fine since most traffic is voice anyway. Any advice or products would be appreciated. David Friedman, Buffalo Audiotex, Inc. White Plains, New York, USA dfbai@ix.netcom.com Voice: (914) 674-9320 Fax: (914) 674-9345 Computer Telephone Integration - Voice Processing & Switching Open Arch. Call Center Apps. & Int'l Callback & Calling Card Sys. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #120 ******************************