TELECOM Digest Tue, 7 Mar 95 12:07:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 139 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson North America's New Toll Free Code: 888 (Norman R. Tiedemann) Seeking GSM Contacts (Jack Hurst) Home PBX Wanted (Tom Blog) Help: Do You Know This Chip? Manufacturer? (D. Emilio Grimaldo) Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO (Fred Goodwin) Re: AT&T Calling Card Mixup (Kareem Hinedi) Re: AT&T Offers 'International Redial' (Kareem Hinedi) Re: Paging Interface With Computer (Michael Berlant) Re: Pair Gain Line Problem (Steve Satchell) Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted (Gerry Brown) Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery (George Wang) Re: Europe Postal Services and Datacom (Francisco van Jole) Re: MCI Cashes AT&T Checks (Stan Schwartz) Re: Credit Checking on Cellular Customers (Javier Henderson) Re: Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted (Howard M. Weiner) Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? (Glenn Blanc) Save Money by Proper Use of Tariffs (Leo Berz) Long Distance Re-Billers Wanted (Richard W. Kreutzer) Re: Book Review: "Modems Made Easy" by Hakala (Rich Brown) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Norman.R.Tiedemann@att.com Subject: North America's New Toll Free Code: 888 Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 19:52:15 GMT A little follow up information on the Numbering Committee recommendations. All NPA of the form 2yy-9yy (with y=y=2-8) i.e. 222,233,244...288 and so on to 922,933,944...988 are reserved for non-geographical services. Secondly NPA's of this form starting with 5 are for personal services (like the 500 numbers today). The NPA's of this form starting with 8 will be toll free. Currently the plan is to make them just like 800 i.e. exact same billing, features, ... This will start with 888 and as that gets close to exhaust 877 will be next, 866 on down to 822. Each one being opened only as the previous one nears exhaust. Why isn't 9 included in the "y" list, like 599 and 899? Because NPA's of the form 299,399,499...999 will be reserved for expanded dialing. So when we run out of ten digit numbers an NPA of this form will indicate that there will be more than seven following digits. This is still quite a ways in the future, but it's nice to see they're at least thinking about it. The only thing definite about these recommendation is the 888 currently, the others are just plans and we know how they may change. The other update to the previous mail is that the rate of assigned 800 numbers is now around 50,000 per week. It seems with the news of exhaust people are scrambling for numbers. Can you imagine how long it will take all PBX vendors and telcos to get this straight. Norm Tiedemann AT&T Bell Labs IH 2G-232 att!ihlpm!normt 2000 Naperville Rd. normt@ihlpm.att.com Naperville, IL 60566-7033 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 21:00:50 CST From: jkhurst@dfw.net (Jack Hurst) Subject: Seeking GSM Contacts I am involved in an extensive consulting project. Seeking to make contacts with GSM information sources -- particularly with individuals who have managed large GSM Cellular Network installation projects. Jack Hurst ------------------------------ From: tblog@eagle.ais.net (Tom Blog) Subject: Home PBX Wanted Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 03:27:24 GMT Organization: Com Designs I will be building a house soon, and am in the market for a simple PBX. There will be three incoming lines (perhaps one dedicated to computer/fax), serving eight to ten stations. Minimum features should include paging, hold and pickup. Not sure how to handle answering machine. All stations home run to punchdown block. Any suggestions/recommendations/sales pitches welcome. Thanks, t blog [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way you handle the answering machine is to assign it an extension of its own; let's say extension 21. Whatever extension you assign to it, that's the same extension you want to have the PBX use for calls when on 'night service', that is, where it rings through to given extensions direct when no one is available. Since most of the very small PBX things (2/3 lines, 8/10 extensions) don't have an 'operator' position as such, usually one of the extensions automatically accepts calls be default where the caller dials zero, and usually all incoming calls are automatically defaulted to one or two extensions unless you change the 'call forwarding'. The extension to which incoming calls are defaulted is the extension you want to have the answering machine. PAT] ------------------------------ From: D. Emilio Grimaldo Subject: Help: Do You Know This Chip? Manufacturer? Date: 7 Mar 1995 17:29:30 GMT Organization: Philips Electronics BV. Hello fellows, I have been looking around in the library at the data books, IC index, CD ROM and yet I have found absolutely no information on this chip, perhaps you can help me :) The chip is marked DAA-TDK, it is a 38-pin IC for telephony. I see it has pins for the TIP & RING signals (from telephone line) as well as for microphone, speaker, hook relay, Tx,Rx and other unknown signals (several Not Connected pins too). It seems the chip is also capable of Ring Detection but don't know to what extent, probably just rectifying the incoming signal without doing frequency discrimination. That's all I know, I have no idea who the manufacturers is, in any case I would like to obtain the name of the manufacturer and also the telephone/fax numbers so that I can obtain a data sheet. Please send responses to my email account as I can't check these newsgroups often enough :( Thanks in advance, Emilio ------------------------------ From: fg8578@onr.com (Fred Goodwin) Subject: Re: Yes, Yung'uns. CNID -is- Logged at Your Local CO Date: 7 Mar 1995 06:35:05 GMT Organization: Onramp Access, Inc. In article , bpc@netcom.com (Benjamin P. Carter) says: > With very few exceptions (e.g. to protect social workers who need to > call anonymously), I WOULD be willing to deny the caller the right of > anonymity. I would be equally willing to let him remain anonymous if > I had the option of blocking all anonymous calls. In other words, I > DON'T WANT TO RECEIVE ANONYMOUS CALLS. > Most anonymous callers are up to no good. In general callers have > too much privacy, and callees too little. It is time to strike a > proper balance. > I agree, and that is why I don't want to receive anonymous calls, junk > phone calls, repeated calls from jerks who won't leave messages, etc. Ben: I don't know about your local phone company, but in Texas, SW Bell provides a feature called Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR), which does what you want, i.e., it blocks calls from those who block the transmis- sion of their CID info ("blocks-the-blocker"). I have it, and I'm told the caller gets a message that the person he/she is calling (viz., ME) is not accepting anonymous calls, or something to that affect. In fact, my phone never rings, and my CID box never sees anything. You might try calling your local telco and ask if they offer a similar feature. Fred "No ad intended" Goodwin Southwestern Bell Austin, TX ------------------------------ From: khinedi@bu.edu (Kareem Hinedi) Subject: Re: AT&T Calling Card Mixup Date: 7 Mar 1995 07:12:30 GMT Organization: Boston University Robert Scott (rbs@cs.city.ac.uk) wrote: > Anyway, my question still stands. Does AT&T Charge Card have an email > address or even a fax number? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I guess you have a valid complaint > alright. Apparently someone punched the wrong plan number in the computer > when you signed up. I don't know of any way to contact AT&T Customer > Service by email, but why don't you try calling them at 800-222-0300. You > will get representatives who, if they cannot help you, will transfer to > representatives (for the correct plan) who can. PAT] Since this person is in the United Kingdom, he cannot call an 800 number (unless things have changed since I lived in Europe). AT&T's calling card customer service number is 304-341-3020 (they will accept collect calls from overseas). If this person has the AT&T Universal Card (I don't think he does, but just in case), the collect number is 904-448-8661 Kareem A. Hinedi Boston University School of Public Health [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, yes people in the UK can call 800 numbers in the USA now-a-days; at least quite a few 800 numbers. Over the past few months that has been changing quite a bit. Even if there were not the ability to dial 800 numbers direct, services such as USA Direct have for quite a long time accepted 800 numbers when requested through the operator. PAT] ------------------------------ From: khinedi@bu.edu (Kareem Hinedi) Subject: Re: AT&T Offers 'International Redial' Date: 7 Mar 1995 07:17:18 GMT Organization: Boston University Actually, as late as 1988 or 1989, there was no direct dial service to Syria. You had to "book" the call with the AT&T operator. You would call the operator and he or she would try up to three times. If unsuccesful, the operator would continue to try for up to two hours and call you back when the call went through. This was EXTREMELY costly: you paid the first three minutes up front whether the party answered or not unless you asked for person-to-person which was even more expensive. I am sure this is still used for the few countries which cannot be reached by direct dialing. Kareem A. Hinedi Boston University School of Public Health [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the majority -- maybe all -- of the still non-direct-dialable places in the world from the USA are in northern Africa and the Middle East. I think there are historic reasons for this going back many years ago when many countries in Africa were colonies of France. The telecom in France held very tight control over the cables between Europe and Africa; AT&T got to use them when the French telecom people said they could; no more, no less. I remember when I was quite young, to call Syria, Egypt, (what we then called) the Belgian Congo and places between there and Egypt to the north you would ask your operator for the international operator. In turn the AT&T inter- national operator would 'book' the call with the international operators in Paris. I think Paris allowed AT&T to have the circuit for two or three hours each day, and there were always more calls waiting to get through on the USA side than there was time or circuits allowed. So when your turn in the queue came up, as often as not the next day after you requested it or the day following, a call would be placed to the AT&T international operator: "Hello White Plains, this is Paris, we are ready now to attempt the call for your customer John Doe in Chicago. AT&T would ring up the subscriber and once they got him on the line, then Paris would try to place the call. No matter if it was 2 pm or 2 am ... and the Paris operator would ring the operator in the country you were calling; in turn that one would ring the operator in the town in particular and that one would ring the local number on their old-fashioned manual switchboard. Each of the African telephone operators along the way were quite mystified by the fact that 'an American is calling from the States ... '; it might well have been the first time they had ever had such a call. Sooner or later they would locate the party being called (telephone numbers meant nothing; maybe someone would leave the telephone exchange building and go outside to look for the person if he did not answer his phone). Presently the called party would come to the phone, and the sequence would reverse itself with each operator telling the one ahead of her that they now had the connection established. Although Paris (and for that matter the AT&T operator) could hear the African operators talking among themselves, protocol and courtesy dictated that Paris wait until the operator directly beneath her in the chain addressed her to say the connection was now up. Then Paris would respond, "go on now, White Plains, I have your call ready." The AT&T international operator in White Plains, NY would tell you to proceed, 'and flash me when you are through talking' (supervision was apparently zilch going across the ocean). When you finished you would flash, and in a second or two the operator would be back on the line, 'this is the operator, are you through?' (or 'are you finished?') and about the same time because the connection was coming down through all the interim points in Africa, Paris would see this and be back on the line asking, 'are you through?'. Now and then however, maybe you were not finished ... maybe you got cut off in error ... the AT&T operator would blame Paris, 'you disconnected me!'. Paris would staunchly deny doing any such thing and blame the operator in Africa. In fact it may have been your local exchange operator who screwed up, but none of them down the line would ever admit it. Cost of a five minute call to Africa in those days was about twenty to forty dollars. Rates of $12-15 for the first three minutes were average. All calls were 'person to person'. The non-diable points in Africa are still among the most expensive calls possible. PAT] ------------------------------ From: lnjptyo1.mberla01@eds.com (Michael Berlant) Subject: Re: Paging Interface With Computer Date: 7 Mar 1995 09:03:41 GMT Organization: EDS Japan In article , zqhuang@sunmp.csd.hku.hk says: > Does anybody know if there is a paging receiver that can be > connected to a computer so that data received over the air can be > sent to the computer? Motorola has a cradle which holds a Motorola Advisor pager and transfers received alphanumeric pages to an RS-232 line. They were demonstrating the system at COMDEX as a way for firefighting companies to receive call information over the air and interface the received page with their electronic map software in the fire truck. ------------------------------ From: ssatchell@BIX.com (ssatchell on BIX) Subject: Re: Pair Gain Line Problem Date: 7 Mar 95 09:16:06 GMT Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation The original question was why the "pair-gain" line restricted modem speed to 9600 bps. The problem is that most "pair-gain" systems use some form of ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse-Code Modulation) which reduces the bitstream rate from the standard 64 kilobits/s to something smaller. ITU-T G.721 (the most common pair-gain system used in US/Canada subscriber circuits) partially obliterates phase relationships, affecting V.29, V.32, V.32 bis, and V.34 significantally. Other algorithms (G.726, Oki-ECI) are less trouble but will slow down modem connections. úÿ France used to have a 4:1 algorithm that was guaranteed to kill *any* phase-modulation scheme, so that the only thing that worked was FSK. Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations ------------------------------ From: gerryb@Eng.Sun.COM (Gerry Brown) Subject: Re: 800 Directory Listings Wanted Date: 6 Mar 1995 17:41:22 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc. Reply-To: gerryb@Eng.Sun.COM While not a crossdirectory, The following URL is great: http://att.net/800 I imagine that this is just AT&T 800 numbers. ------------------------------ From: gcw@hh.sbay.org (George Wang) Subject: Re: Motorola Flip Phone and Low Battery Date: 6 Mar 1995 11:39:56 -0800 Organization: Hip-Hop BBS Sunnyvale, California In Greg Abbott writes: > Another less convenient option is to buy or build a 12v battery back > (I built a 4A pack for about $25 in a pretty nice case with a carry > strap). Buy the cigarette lighter plug accessory for the flip phone > and then plug it into your battery pack. This will give you a couple > of days of standby and several hours of talk-time. I use mine if I > know I'm going to be away from the charger for awhile (like at a > transmitter site for an extended outage or allignment session). I > built another one of these for my brother. He takes it out on his > boat on weekends and talks quite a bit with no problems at all. Actually, Motorola sells such a battery (12V lead-acid type used in older VHS Camcorders) with a female cigarette lighter adapter. This could be used to plug into your portable cigarette lighter adapter (male plug). I believe the Motorla part number is SNN4170 (Soft-Pak Replacement Battery). Motorola has a direct sales order line at 800-331-6456. I do not know the price. I am not sure if Motorola officially approves of such a configuration as this. Since the 12V battery is about the same voltage as your car battery (Car batteries can go up to 14.5V I hear) I suppose it should work. Just remember you also need a cigarette adapter battery cable (SKN4292) for this to work. George C. Wang Email: gcw@hh.sbay.org Alternate: gwang@mail.ntu.edu ------------------------------ From: fvjole@xs4all.nl (Francisco van Jole) Subject: Re: Europe Postal Services and Datacom Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 23:50:35 +1000 In article 70262.2741@compuserve.com (Elizabeth Gardner) writes: > I am trying to find out which European countries have postal > services that also offer "information highway" services (for example, > e-mail, Internet In the Netherlands the Postal Service of the PTT exploits the most strange 'e-mail service' I've ever heard of. You can type a message (at the rate of about 1$ a minute) into a Videotex-system. Next the PTT prints the message, puts it in an envelope and takes it to the real mailbox of the receiver. The advantage they advertise with is that you can send mail until 21.30h (normal 19.00h) that will be delivered the next day. Regards, Francisco van Jole [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Can't you prepare the message ahead of time in a file, then quickly download the file in less than a minute to save time on the costs? PAT] ------------------------------ From: stans@panix.com (Stan Schwartz) Subject: Re: MCI Cashes AT&T Checks Date: 6 Mar 1995 19:52:07 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC Scott Lorditch (gryphon@j51.com) wrote: > Over the past few months I've gotten several solicitations in the mail > to switch to AT&T. One of them was in the form of a check for $40. We > currently use MCI, so I called their customer service number. While > they don't publicize it, MCI will redeem these checks for their face > value in an "MCI Certificate of Savings". And further, for each month > that I hold the certificate before cashing it, it's value increases by > another $5, for up to 12 months. So, the useless $40 check from AT&T > will save me $100 on my MCI bill this time next year! Sprint did the same for me a while back -- gave me $75 in credits after I sent them my AT&T check. I showed my appreciation by switching to MCI for their 50% off all calls for six months promotion. Stan ------------------------------ From: javier@twg.com (Javier Henderson) Subject: Re: Credit Checking on Cellular Customers Organization: The Wollongong Group Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 11:58:11 GMT In article , Steve Samler writes: > What is the common practice today when someone applies for cellular > service? Credit check via one of the consumer credit agencies or via > D&B if a business is the applicant? > Is an additional credit check done if someone adds on a cellular modem? > Is anyone using the practice of approving to a certain dollar limit > and then cutting off service for the rest of the billing period if the > limit is reached? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A credit check is done, and a deposit > equal to what the carrier estimates will be the charges for one or two > months is required if the subscriber's credit rating is not up to the > standards the carrier wants. I don't think it matters if you use a modem > or not. PAT] There are two providers in LA: Cellular One and AirTouch. I applied with Cellular One first, and was told I needed to come up with a $1,000 deposit. I then called AirTouch, and was approved without a deposit at all. About a month later I had a chance to look at my credit reports from the three majors: TRW, TransUnion and Equifax. All is well there, so I've no idea with Cellular One wanted such a large deposit. TRW showed an inquiry from both carriers, so obviously they both looked at the same report. Javier Henderson javier@twg.com ------------------------------ From: hmweine@PacBell.COM (Howard M. Weiner) Subject: Re: Automatic Message Accounting Standard Wanted Date: Tue, 07 Mar 1995 09:36:08 -0800 Organization: Pacific Bell Strategic Systems Architecture In article , telenet!emerson!ggoldman@ uunet.uu.net (Gerry Goldman) wrote: > Can anyone tell me where I can get information on the Automatic > Message Accounting (AMA) format. This is purported to be a Bellcore > format for ATM billing records. If you are referring to the generic requirements for ATM/Cell Relay AMA, see Bellcore GR-1110. Most of the requirements are in section 10. If you are referring to the AMA message formats (layouts), those are always contained for all services in GR-1100. You really need GR-1110 to understand the requirements for ATM related AMA, though. For information on ordering, you can call Bellcore Customer Relations at 1-800-521-CORE or (908)699-5800. Howard M. Weiner hmweine@pacbell.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 11:25:14 -0700 From: Glenn Blanc Subject: Re: Anyone Heard of SMR - Specialized Mobile Radio? In article , murrays@clipper.robadome.com (Scott Murray) says: > I was wondering if anyone had any info on SMR -- Specialized Mobile > Radio. I have been approached by a company in Florida to buy an SMR > channel. The channel is in the 851-866Mhz range and is used by > companies to provided cellular like service at a cheaper rate. The > channels are supposedly given out by the government on a first come > first serve basis, but this company wants to charge by $3500 to file > all the paper work and guarantees me a channel or my money back. As others have speculated this kind of "investment" in SMR is most likely a Scam. I am the Director of Regulatory Affairs for OneComm (formerly CenCall). We are in the process of Merging with Nextel, DialCall and Motorola to become a Nationwide Digital SMR provider. Most of these Scams involve preparing an application that costs $125.00 to the FCC and $200.00 to a Frequency Coordinator. For this the Scam operator charges $3,500-$7,000. Several have been shut down by the FTC (Metropolitan and Columbia in NY, DCI in California and the SEC closed ComCoa in Florida. The sales people just set up shop somewhere new and the Scam goes on. The FTC has a hot line you can call for more info at 202-326-2527. As others have pointed out, we can apply for the same frequencies rather than buy or lease them from someone else. The big thing that these Scam operators say is that companies like OneComm will lease channels from you for a lot of money for ever. This is what drives the financial analysis they show you and it is not true. It is not common practice in the SMR industry to lease channels. OneComm has no channels under lease from anybody. The folks at Columbia/Metropolitan sold over 4000 licenses at $7,000 each before the FTC seized them and the court apointed a receiver. Hope this sheds some light on the situation. Glenn Blanc, OneComm (AKA CenCall) 303-721-3407 ------------------------------ From: berz@ix.netcom.com (Leo Berz) Subject: Save Money by Proper Use of Tariffs Date: 7 Mar 1995 19:17:14 GMT Organization: Netcom Most companies are overpaying for communication services and do not even know it. There are many causes for this such as: paying for services no longer in use, treating voice and data as seperate requirements and not being aware of loopholes in the tariffs. One such loophole is FCC Tariff #1, which allows Intra-Lata facilities to be billed at Inter-Lata rates. There are several requirements for use of this tariff, but basically you can save up to 66% of the monthly cost for local facilities if at least 10% of the traffic they carry is Contaminated, (Inter-Lata). If you would like more information on this or other ways to reduce communication costs please contact Berz Enterprises at: E-Mail: berz@ix.netcom.com S-Mail: PO Box 620492 Littleton CO, 80162-0492 Phone: (303)692-4711 We are a full service Consulting company specializing in Voice/Data Integration, Digital Network Design and Billing Audits. Leo Berz ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 6 Mar 95 18:24:30 MST From: rwk@AmeriCom.com (Richard W. Kreutzer) Subject: Long Distance Re-Billers Wanted I am looking for companies who re-bill long distance. If you know of any, please reply to: rwk@AmeriCom.com Regards, Dick Kreutzer AmeriCom Inc. ------------------------------ From: rbrown@onramp.net (Rich Brown) Subject: Re: Book Review: "Modems Made Easy" by Hakala Date: 7 Mar 1995 05:47:18 GMT Organization: On-Ramp; Individual Internet Connections; Dallas/Ft Worth In article ,Mon, 27 Feb 1995 14:09:08 EST, roberts@mukluk.decus.ca talked about modems being easy. The words modem and easy should *never* be used in the same sentence! Rich Brown rbrown@onramp.net ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #139 ******************************