Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA28027; Fri, 16 Aug 1996 00:44:05 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 00:44:05 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608160444.AAA28027@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #414 TELECOM Digest Fri, 16 Aug 96 00:44:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 414 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pacific Telesis Launches Field Tests Of Both xDSL And Cable Modems (M King) Major Telco Ships Internet Voice Product (Peter Judge) Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 (Greg Monti) Re: Clarification of What a T1 Does (John R. Levine) Re: GE 916 Wireless Phone Jack System (Bill Newkirk) Last Laugh! Recent Telecomics (Dave Leibold) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike King Subject: Pacific Telesis Launches Field Tests Of Both xDSL And Cable Modems Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 12:25:35 PDT Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 14:30:09 -0700 From: sqlgate@list.pactel.com Subject: Pacific Telesis Launches Field Tests Of Both xDSL And Cable Modems FOR MORE INFORMATION: Craig Watts (415) 394-3708 chwatts@legsf.pacbell.com Pacific Telesis Launches Field Tests Of Both xDSL And Cable Modems Parallel Six-Month Tests In San Francisco Bay Area Presage New High-Speed Services for Consumers In 1997 SAN FRANCISCO -- To meet the explosive growth in consumer demand for ever-faster access to data services such as the Internet, Pacific Telesis is launching separate field tests in the San Francisco Bay Area of two promising high-speed access technologies for consumers: cable modems and xDSL (high-speed Digital Subscriber Line) modems. "Every day more Californians seem to want faster Internet access as new applications using higher bandwidth continue to emerge," said Glenn Estes, President of Telesis Technologies Laboratory, a subsidiary of Pacific Telesis. "It's no wonder that California leads the nation in Internet usage as well as demand for ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines. "Our Pacific Bell FasTrak ISDN service already meets the high-speed needs of 80,000 residential and business customers, and will serve many more in the near future," he said. "In addition, we're also now testing xDSL and cable modem services to give consumers even higher-speed options. As part of our product line, these three services will offer Pacific Bell customers some serious horsepower for their on-line travels, for both business and pleasure," Estes said. Since the two new services use different kinds of networks, according to Estes, Pacific Bell customers in the future will be offered one of the high-speed services but not both, depending on which type of network serves their neighborhood. That's because xDSL modems make full use of Pacific Bell's traditional copper telephone lines which today serve over 9 million homes. Conversely, cable modems operate on broadband networks such as Pacific Bell's advanced communications network, which the company is building to replace its copper network in San Jose and San Diego. xDSL: Dedicated Speed Short for high-speed Digital Subscriber Line, xDSL will use existing copper telephone lines to connect people to Pacific Bell's network at speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps). That makes xDSL 12 times faster than ISDN, and 50 times faster than today's 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps) analog modems. "xDSL will turbo-charge people's on-line and Internet sessions," said Mark Gallegos, Director - xDSL Product Management, Pacific Bell. "xDSL will download in 10 seconds the kind of complex graphic that now takes 18 minutes for users with today's fastest analog 28.8 Kbps modem. That's warp speed," Gallegos said. He added that this same acceleration will benefit other network uses such as videoconferencing and exchanging multimedia files. Other applications ideally suited for xDSL include working at home, access from home to a company's computer or Local Area Network (LAN), and related off-site applications. "In addition to faster speed, xDSL technology offers customers two key benefits by giving each customer a dedicated circuit to the network," Gallegos said. "First, having a dedicated circuit means getting the same fast connection speed to an on-line gateway, every time." For users accustomed to Ethernet-type access at their workplace, xDSL will provide comparable speed and convenience for linking their home PC to their workplace, the Internet or other destinations, with none of the slowdown in data transmission rate that can occur with shared circuits. "As a second key benefit," said Gallegos, "our dedicated xDSL circuit will offer unmatched network security. This can be vital for telecomm- uters, people working in remote offices, and home businesses which send confidential information over the public network." In addition, he said, an xDSL-equipped line will provide a virtual channel for regular phone conversations conducted at the same time as high-speed information access. According to Gallegos, the company's xDSL technology test will be conducted in two phases, starting on August 15 with about a dozen pre-selected customers in San Ramon, California. For phase one, Pacific Bell will use an asymmetrical service with a data rate of 1.5 Mbps for participants to receive or download information, and a data rate of 64 Kbps to send information to others. Higher sending rates up to 768 Kbps will be used as the technology test progresses. Test participants will use Pacific Bell Internet Services as their pre-selected Internet service provider. While Pacific Bell has not yet selected an equipment vendor for the future commercial service, the company has chosen Westell Technologies, Inc. for the first phase of the test. Westell will provide their FlexCap modems as well as multiplexing equipment and software for the gateway in Pacific Bell's central office. In addition, Cisco Systems, Inc. is providing technology to multiplex services onto Pacific Bell's high-speed backbone network. Pacific Bell plans to test other vendors' products for the gateway during the second test phase. Phase two could begin in November with an increase in trial size to about 100 pre-selected consumers. If the technology performs as expected, Pacific Bell plans to introduce service to consumers in a limited area in Spring 1997, followed by a broader service launch mid-year. Cable modems on the Full Service Network In June, Pacific Bell began testing cable modems in Santa Clara County, California, by initially connecting a dozen households to Pacific Bell's full service, advanced communication network. "Our new broadband network is uniquely engineered to support two-way, interactive technologies and applications that require greater bandwidth, such as high-speed access to the Internet through cable modems," said Lou Pelosi, Director of Broadband Data Services - Pacific Bell Video Services. "Cable modems need a highly reliable, hybrid fiber/coax network with a clean upstream signal, something Pacific Bell's advanced communications network provides because it is designed to support telephone services," he said. "Cable modems can provide significantly faster data speeds through this network than is possible with analog modems over conventional copper telephone lines." According to Pelosi, these faster speeds will open the door to dynamic video and multimedia applications for consumers, such as two-way videoconferencing that connects distant homes. "We believe peak information access rates as high as 10 Mbps delivered to the PC are possible through Pacific Bell's advanced communications network," Pelosi said. However, he added that a more realistic typical speed will be approximately 1.5 Mbps. He cautioned that actual response times and data throughput may depend on how many people use the network at the same time and which applications they use. Pacific Bell will continue to test the cable modem service through the end of this year. "By year-end," said Pelosi, "our cable modem test could include about 100 homes. If all technical issues are resolved, we could begin a marketing trial in early 1997, and start commercial service later on in cities served by the new network." In addition to resolving technical issues, the test also will help the company understand operational issues involved in delivering a highly reliable, customer service-intensive solution. Initially, Pacific Bell is using Zenith cable modems, Hewlett-Packard file servers, and is partnering with Hewlett-Packard to provide customer support. "Consumers in San Jose currently are receiving superb telephone and video services over Pacific Bell's advanced communications network," Pelosi said. "Now we want to add high-speed access to the Internet and other multimedia services to increase the network's value and reach." He said likely target markets for the new service would include Internet users, telecommuters and home businesses. Pacific Telesis is a diversified telecommunications corporation based in San Francisco. Pacific Bell is the largest subsidiary of Pacific Telesis as well as California's leading telecommunications provider, serving more than 10 million residence and business customers. Pacific Bell Video Services, a separate subsidiary of Pacific Telesis, is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to offer customers new choices in video services. Pacific Bell Internet Services, a subsidiary of Pacific Bell, provides value-added Internet access services to consumers and businesses. --------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 17:53:13 +0100 From: Peter Judge Subject: Major Telco Ships Internet Voice Product << News story from Internet Business, a CMI Technology Watch service >> BT ships Internet voice ======================= No one expected a major telco to encourage the use of the Internet for telephone calls, but this is just what British Telecom is doing - albeit by accident. BT will be supplying its Internet subscribers with the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser - a product which includes NetMeeting, a voice telephony / whiteboard product. Although BT could theoretically switch off the voice links on its servers and prevent users from making connections to each other, this is most unlikely. Shipping a Net telephony product which didn't work would be a worse PR blunder than shipping one which does. A BT spokesman shared our amusement at the situation, but expressed the opinion that Internet telephony was a toy' which would not have a serious impact on voice traffic. The major telecoms providers in Ireland, Switzerland, Pakistan and other countries, which have at various times attempted to ban Internet voice, clearly do not agree. BT's Internet service is one of the newest in the UK, and has a small market share. --------------------------- (c) Cambridge Market Intelligence (CMI), 1996. This story is an extract from Internet Business, a 'Technology Watch' service from CMI, edited by Peter Judge. CMI can be found at http://www.cmi.co.uk Peter Judge is at peter@pjudge.demon.co.uk --------------------------- Peter Judge, 89 Upper Tulse Hill, London SW2 2RA Tel/Fax: +44 181 671 4842 "Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet." ----- S. Adams, The Dilbert Principle ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 00:08:37 -0400 From: cc004056@interramp.com (Greg Monti) Subject: Re: End of Permissive Dialing in 954 On Aug 07, 1996 01.30.31 in article , 'Telecom@Eureka.vip.best.com (Linc Madison)' wrote: >> If some states want to have a rule that you must dial the '1' for any >> direct-dialed toll call, that's fine. However, they should NEVER >> prohibit dialing the '1' for local calls. And on 12 Aug 96, John Cropper (psyber@usa.pipeline.com) wrote: > Actually, they should also NOT prohibit it, as it impinges on the > customer's ability to route calls through the carrier of their choice, > as well ... John, you are implying here that the '1' dialed at the beginning of a long distance call chooses the *company* that carries the call. No. The company carrying the call is chosen by regulatory boundaries, by default carriers, and by 10XXX or 101XXXX codes. To positively choose a carrier, the caller would need to dial a 10XXX (or 101xxxx) code first. The remainder of the number would be dialed just the way it would be if no 10XXX code had been prepended. For example, in area code 609 in southern NJ, to make an inter-LATA, intra-NPA toll call from Camden to Atlantic City using your default inter-LATA carrier, you would dial, say, 345-XXXX. To force it to be on, say, MCI, you would dial 10222-345-XXXX. No '1' and no area code are required. They are permitted, however: 10222-1-609-345-XXXX would be perfectly legal and would route and rate the call the same way. There aren't very many area codes where this works, but 609 is one of them. In toll-alerting area codes, the '1' also does *not* determine the carrier. In Virginia's 703, a call from Herndon to Quantico, is toll and must be dialed 1-703-640-XXXX. But it will be carried by Bell Atlantic because both ends are in the same LATA. The '1' does not force the call to a long distance company. By the same token, from Herndon, VA, calling the White House as 202-456-1414 or 1-202-456-1414 has no bearing on what company carries the call. Both of these would also be carried by Bell Atlantic. If you want to force that call to be over AT&T, you could dial either 10288-1-202-456-1414 or 10288-202-456-1414. Both would work. '1' may or may not be a toll indicator. But it is definitely not a carrier indicator. Greg Monti Jersey City, New Jersey, USA gmonti@interramp.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Aug 96 21:12:00 EDT From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Subject: Re: Clarification of What a T1 Does Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg, N.Y. > When one gets a T1 line, can that line be used for a combination of > data/voice/fax line? > Can I use a T1 to call long-distance or overseas by voice/data? A T1 line is four copper wires that deliver 1.544 megabits per second in each direction between one place and another. I have one (one end of one, to be precise) here on my desk. Beyond that, it's up to you. A common way to use a T1 is to treat the 1.544 megabits as 24 independent channels of 64K bits/sec* apiece. You use a device called a channel bank to split out the channels. By making suitable arrangements with whoever's on the other end of your T1, your local telco most likely, you can attach some of the channels coming out of the channel bank to a data device like an Internet router, some of them as dedicated trunks to a long distance company, and some of them to the telco's switch and treat them like regular phone lines. If you plug your end of a T1 into a PBX, the PBX often can split out the 24 channels as well. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Trumansburg NY Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" and Information Superhighwayman wanna-be * If you use a channel for voice transmission, sometimes you can only use 56K of the 64K bits because some of the bits are borrowed to indicate the status of the call using that channel. ------------------------------ From: Bill Newkirk Subject: Re: GE 916 Wireless Phone Jack System Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 19:14:07 -0400 Organization: Rockwell Avionics/Collins Atri Indiresan wrote: > One candidate is the traditional wiring, and the other is > the GE 916 wireless phone jack system. It is rather cheap - retailing > at $80 (additional extensions are $50), and claims compatibility with > answering machines, cordless phones, modems, fax, RCA DSS Receiver > (what does this have to do with the phone system?). The limitations The DSS (and similar boxes) need to call in to get authorization for certain actions (such as ordering a movie on demand ...) > mentioned are that modems are limited to 14.4 Kbps, and it will not > work with caller-ID units. What follows is a description of the unit, > and how it works, summarized from their literature. The limit of 14.4 kbps would be a stopper for me ... > How it works: Communication with the base is established using FM > frequencies transmitted over the electrical wiring in the home -- this The idea is similar to "carrier current" radio, however there's lots of harmonics and they don't stay in the wires apparently. The harmonics are also modulated so someone with the right kind of receiver close enough could listen in. I saw one article on the GE "wireless phone extension" interference in a recent CQ magazine. One carrier is at 3.03 MHz (so there could be harmonics a 6.06, 9.09, 12.12, 15.15, 18.18, 21.21 (i think that's the frequency that the article author first detected the "birdie" from the unit ...) etc. There's probably more to this. > clearly does not use typical cordless technology. At most one "Typical cordless technology". It's radio fer crying out loud. Put a new name on it and everyone thinks it's not the same.. I'd go for wired extensions. ------------------------------ From: Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Date: 06 Aug 96 00:22:28 -0500 Subject: Last Laugh! Recent Telecomics Here are the latest sightings of telecom-related daily funnies as can be found in the newspapers. Comic names and dates of issue (where determined) are followed by a description of what went on. Not all comics, let alone newspapers can be read, thus some eligible material will be missing. Contributions to fill this gap are welcome at this e-mail. 'Net addresses for some comics appear at the end. . . . . . . Non Sequitur (mid-1996, exact date unknown): Tarzan goes cellular ... and the monkeys "don't have to listen to that annoying yell anymore". Shoe (weekend of 3 Aug 1996): Wizard extols the virtues of on-line commerce ... but admits to being out $300ish on web software upgrades. Perfessor decides it's time to pick up a lottery ticket instead. Beetle Bailey (18 July 1996): Sarge gets an "obscene" phone call ... actually one suggesting romance with his ever-unrequited suitor, Sgt Louise Lugg. Adam (somewhere in 1996): Adam gets e-mail from USPS, advising him to pay less attention to the e-mail and more attention to all his snail mail left piling up outside. Shoe (10 Aug 1996): Professor calls his insurance company, only to get the "Shaft" theme for music on hold. The Better Half (16 Mar 1996): Harriet Parker calls the Women's Forum ... press the appropriate key according to the husband's character deficiency ... PC and Pixel (30 Jul 1996): This is a fairly new comic in town (though it did kick out On The Fastrack on the funnies locally) ... the cat logs onto Contortionist Cyberworkshop with relevant results. Peanuts (weekend of 21 July 1996): On special occasions, Charles Schulz will stray into a telecom topic. In this episode, Snoopy reassures a bird buddy that his mother can find him: "aren't you on the Internest"? Reality Check (12 Jul 1996): The big bad wolf gets a restraining order. The huffing and puffing at the three pigs now has to be done as an obscene phone call. Ernie (12 July 1996): Ernie surfs up some cyber-trash ... of course, he's reluctant to switch websites. The Better Half (weekend 13 Jul 1996): Stanley's willing to discuss his lack of attention to his wife ... but she needs to sort it out with him via e-mail. Hi and Lois (14 Jul 1996): A call for Chip, but he's apparently nowhere to be found ... until he shows up after already taking the call in the den. Adam (9 Jul 1996): Laura fought traffic congestion on the way home ... Adam fought it on the 'Net at home. On the Fastrack (8 July 1996): Bud and Chelonia have to say goodbye to the 'Net ... they surfed to the edge of the World Wide Web. The Better Half (6 Jul 1996): Does the cat really need a web site? On the Fastrack (27 Jun 1996): Ms Trellis doesn't want the employees using the 'Net for personal amusement. Even if Bud was accessing a computer resource page (though one's work is another's amusement there). Beetle Bailey (1 Jul 1996): Beetle does a live emulation of voice mail. Sarge barges in and provides the "BEEP". Animal Crackers (weekend 30 Jun 1996): Bird goes wild over products on a home shopping channel ... of course, he won't go broke since he had his phone disconnected. Suburban Cowgirls (weekend 23 Jun 1996): Someone tries to train his dog to dial 911, hoping to be on Hard Copy or to get a trip to Disneyland ... The Better Half (weekend 16 Jun 1996): Play telemarketers' sales pitches back to the telemarketers and watch them buy stuff from themselves. Reality Check (8 May 1996): Beggars keep with the time ... a spider bum has a "No Web Site" sign. Adam (somewhere in 1996): Laura's unimpressed by chat rooms ... she gets multiple conversations for free from the kids. Sherman's Lagoon (13 May 1996): Little fish are telling Fillmore about their web sites ... Sherman's Lagoon (14 May 1996): Sherman gets a web site complete with all the multimedia thrills. Too bad his life isn't as exciting. Sherman's Lagoon (16 May 1996): Someone suggests Fillmore put up a web site to pick up a 'Net romance. He's reluctant at first until it was pointed out he went on Love Connection. Sherman's Lagoon (17 May 1996): Fillmore's website only gets two hits ... Sherman suggests replacing the poetry with porno ... Doonesbury (1 May 1996): Zack goes on line and gets a job at Intel as Mike tries to console Zack for the loss of the last job. Reality Check (1 May 1996): Breakfast of robots - fibre optics. Adam (sometime in 1996): The road to the info. highway is paved with strewn toys ... Charlie (19 Apr 1996): A modern wedding ceremony ... the part where the minister asks for objections is updated to include a double-click option on "no marry" for the Internet audience. Family Circus (19 Apr 1996): One of the kids makes a premiere on a radio talk show ... "I just learned how to dial". Hi & Lois (4 Jun 1996): Garbage day was changed ... Hi could have found this out on the garbage collector's website. Charlie (27 May 1996): Telephone booths ... with a shower booth among them. Adam (11 Jun 1996): Clayton was too late in calling up a friend ... Dad was on the line with the computer for too long ... Adam (sometime in 1996): More time with cyberspace that with family? Adam e-mails his wife a response on the subject. Hi & Lois (1 Dec 1995): Lots of messages on the answering machine ... which means Chip has to deal with a very interested girl. Bound & Gagged (sometime in 1996): An update to the tin can string phone ... use a big barrel on one end and it becomes "Kid's Speaker Phone". Family Circus (4 Jan 1996): Kids get tired of building a snowman ... so they decide to find a virtual one on the 'Net. Charlie (5 Jun 1996): Some folks can't stop their beepers. Charlie, on the other hand, needs to run a classified ad to get people to beep him. Dave (some time in 1996): New 'Net products from the World Wide Wait catalogue: including Internet Clock that's stopped "just like your browser" (but it's at least correct twice a day) ... or Chia Inter-Pet which grows on the monitor and at least provides something to see ... and more. On the Fastrack (1 Apr 1996): Ms Trellis notes how "archaic and neander- thal" tapping in on employee phone conversations is ... e-mail tapping is the in thing to do instead. I Need Help (21 May 1996): Wrong number ... but the callee had to get up to answer it anyway. Charlie (21 May 1996): The boxer shorts company calls on Charlie to see how things are with their product ... but Charlie wonders how Inspector #32 got his number. Bound & Gagged (some time in 1996): Smoke signals that say "http://pow.wow.com/". On the Fastrack (20 May 1996): Videoconferencing on a slow modem is a bit of a drag ... almost like ... a comic strip. Adam (sometime in 1996): Adam gets an e-mail ... from his wife to remind him to get this from the store, do that, etc etc. Adam (seen 26 May 1996): Laura believes the 'Net is a guy thing. Adam disagrees, pointing out the number of females he's chatted with. Now Laura wants that one explained. Adam then backtracks suggesting you never know who you're really communicating with ... Reality Check (seen 26 May 1996): Explorers discover an inscription inside a pyramid ... http://www ... etc. The Better Half (weekend 5 May 1996): Stanley calls a tone menu ... press 1 for midlife crisis counselling but is advised to "do it carefully" to avoid back injury. Blondie (6 May 1996): Dagwood has to wait through a bank's voice menu options ... he protests that he doesn't want any of those... to which he gets a response "... what DO you want? We're very busy over here!". Peanuts (27 Apr 1996): Lucy is leaving the ball game to go home. If a ball is hit to field, Charlie Brown can contact Lucy via phone number, fax, or e-mail. Adam (some time in 1996): Adam gets excited over being on line, being able to communicate world wide ... Laura gets less than excited over Adam not being able to communicate with "those only steps away". Adam (some time in 1996): A day without e-mail is a complete waste ... especially at 9:05 in the morning. Shoe (12 Aug 1996): Wizard wires up Professor for the 'Net. Wizard gives the invoice; Professor says "the check is in the e-mail". Family Circus (8 Aug 1996): One of the kids gets an experience with Grandma's voice mail ... Charlie (13 Aug 1996): Charlie comes home wondering if any e-mail has arrived... but he did get a brick through his window. Beetle Bailey (5 Jul 1996): Soldier is at a payphone, only to get orders to get back to base. Before he does, some phone grafitti is in order: "For a bad time, call Sarge ..." Doonesbury (series, mid-Aug 1996): A series where Mike goes to France, meets a recent ex-girlfriend, returns home after realising his daughter Alex was intercepting his ex's e-mails ... . . . . . . e-mails and other comix net addresses: Adam adamathome@aol.com Dave http://www.davetoon.com/dave, davetoon@aol.com Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/ Ernie piranhaclub@aol.com Farcus 74777.3301@compuserve.com For Better or Worse http://www.uexpress.com/ Frank and Ernest FandEBobT@aol.com Ghost Story Club http://www.comicspage.com/ghostclub/ I Need Help friknfrak1@aol.com Mary Worth TellMary@aol.com Mother Goose and Grimm http://www.grimmy.com Non Sequitur sequitoon@aol.com On the Fastrack 76711.2174@compuserve.com PC and Pixel artattak@astral.magic.ca Sherman's Lagoon http://www.slagoon.com/lagoon Shoe http://macnelly.com/ The Better Half http://www.borg.com/~rjgtoons/bh.html ... and no doubt more are available using the search sites like Yahoo, Open Text or Alta Vista. Fidonet : Dave Leibold 1:259/730@fidonet.org Internet: Dave.Leibold@superctl.tor250.org ------------------------------ 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: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.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: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-329-0571 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@mirror.lcs.mit.edu to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * 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. * ************************************************************************* Finally, 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. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #414 ******************************