Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id KAA10402; Wed, 14 Aug 1996 10:49:37 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 10:49:37 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199608141449.KAA10402@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #407 TELECOM Digest Wed, 14 Aug 96 10:49:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 407 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Archives CDROM Ordering Details (TELECOM Digest Editor) BA-NJ Proposes "Overlay" in 609 Area Code (John Cropper) Information Needed on Koll Telecom, Skycom and Globalcom (Steve Samler) Christian Coalition Uses Motorola Envoy (Stephen Satchell) InterLATA Connectivity in 609? (Andrew White) Cellular Tower Agreement (Emily Van Dunk) Jeopardy Situation in NPA 407 (Florida) (Mark J. Cuccia) Recent Bellcore NANPA "PL's" (Mark J. Cuccia) Detritus of 708 Area Code Change (H.A. Kippenhan Jr.) ATT (Lucent) Computer Telephone 8130 (x@worldnet.att.net) Rural Internet Access (Brian M. Sharp) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 09:22:18 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Telecom Archives CDROM Ordering Details People have been asking how to order the Telecom Archives CDROM by mail order. Not everyone has been able to find it in a store as of yet. If you can find it in a store, you will save on the shipping charges, however it might simply be easier for you to order it direct from the publisher, so details are given below. The Telecom Archives is a fifteen year collection of the stuff which has appeared in TELECOM Digest since 1981 along with a few hundred other files of telecom related material. There are a lot of technical files, historical files, etc. Everything that was there through the end of 1995 is included. The cost is $39.95. Please buy a copy, as the royalties will help me a lot. Also, if sales are good, there will be an update with the 1996 material on it at some future point. ============================================================================ shipping information: ============================================================================ Shipping is $5 in the USA, Canada, and Mexico for First Class. Overseas is $9 PER ORDER. There is an additional $3 COD charge (USA Only). UPS Blue Label (2nd day) [USA Only] is $10 PER ORDER, UPS Red Label (next day) [USA Only] is $15 PER ORDER. Federal Express (next day) [USA Only] is $20 PER ORDER. For overseas courier rates, please email us. Ordering Information: You can order by sending a check or money order to Walnut Creek CDROM Suite E 4041 Pike Lane Concord CA 94520 USA 1 800 786-9907 (Toll Free Sales) [open 24HRS] +1 510 674-0783 (Sales-International) +1 510 603-1234 (tech support) [M-F 9AM - 5PM, PST] +1 510 674-0821 (FAX) orders@cdrom.com (For placing an order) info@cdrom.com (For requesting more information or for customer service questions) support@cdrom.com (For technical questions and technical support) majordomo@cdrom.com (Info Robot-automated product information and support) We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and Diner's Club. ALL credit card orders MUST include a phone or fax number. COD shipping is available for $8.00 in the US only, NO COD shipping to P O Boxes. Checks and Money Orders payable in US funds, can be sent along with ordering information to our normal business address. California residents please add sales tax. Shipping and handling is $5 (per ORDER, not per disc) for US, Canada, and Mexico, and $9 for overseas (AIRMAIL) shipping. Please allow 14 working days ( 3 weeks ) for overseas orders to arrive. Most orders arrive in 1-2 weeks. -------------------- Therefore, unless you want next day delivery by FedEx which would make it quite expensive you would send $39.95 plus $5 to Walnut Creek at thier address above, or authorize them to charge your credit card, etc. As noted also, customers outside the USA need to pay additional shipping costs. Write to Walnut Creek at the addresses above. If you can find it in a retail outlet then you save shipping and handling charges. In any event, please buy one today! PAT -------------------- The Telecom Archives remains a free resource for the Internet and is available using anonymous ftp massis.lcs.mit.edu. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 21:12:28 GMT Subject: BA-NJ Proposes "Overlay" in 609 Area Code From: psyber@usa.pipeline.com (John Cropper) For Immediate Release Contact: August 12, 1996 Tim Ireland (201-649-2279) SOUTH JERSEY TO GET NEW AREA CODE Bell Atlantic Proposes "Overlay" Plan for 609 Newark, N.J. -- Ever wonder how many grains of sand repose on the seashore? Or how many stars twinkle in the sky? Or how many telephone numbers fill the White Pages? Unlike the infinite stars and grains of sand, the number of telephone numbers is fixed, and eventually the supply will run out. That's about to happen in New Jersey's 609 area code. The unprecedented popularity of cellular telephones, business lines, multiple residential lines, pagers, FAX machines and dedicated computer lines is about to exhaust South Jersey's supply of telephone numbers. So Bell Atlantic is preparing to create a new area code, and we're about to ask the Board of Public Utilities how we should do that. One method for creating new area codes would split the 609 area in half, divide communities and force millions of customers in suburban Philadelphia to change their telephone numbers. The alternative, known in telecommunications parlance as an "overlay," doesn't cut towns in half and doesn't force customers to change their telephone numbers. Bell Atlantic favors this plan. Here's how an overlay would work in 609: before telephone numbers are exhausted, a new area code would be created within the same geographic boundaries as 609. When all 609 phone numbers have been taken, new numbers would be issued with a new area code. As simple as the overlay sounds, it does come with one minor inconvenience. Once an overlay has been introduced, South Jersey callers will need to dial ten digits (area code + seven-digit number) to make some local calls. Next-door neighbors, for example, could have different codes. But thousands of New Jerseyans already dial ten digits to make local calls. A call between Princeton and Monmouth Junction is a local call. But because Princeton is in 609 and Monmouth Junction is in 908, a caller from Princeton must dial ten digits to reach Monmouth Junction. Moreover, statewide ten-digit dialing is inevitable even with a geographic split because the demand for numbers will continue even after new area codes are added. The 908 area code was split from 201 in 1991 -- just five years ago. If geographic splits are used to create new area codes every three-to-five years, New Jersey will be dotted with town-sized area-code zones. So after a series of splits, customers will be dialing ten digits to call from town to town, anyway. The only difference is, that every time another split is announced, thousands of businesses will have to spend millions of dollars changing telephone numbers on stationery, trucks, billboards, print ads, television ads, business cards, automatic dialers and fax machines. With an overlay, all of that inconvenience and unnecessary cost can be avoided. Questions commonly asked about the overlay: If I have one area code and I make a local call to another area code, will that call cost me more than it did before the addition of the new area code? Absolutely not. New area codes do not mean higher telephone rates. Regardless of how many digits a customer dials, a local call before the addition of new area codes will remain a local call afterward. Bell Atlantic computes its rates by measuring the distance between the origin of the call and the place of completion. The number of area codes a call passes through does not by itself determine the price of the call. What part of the current 609 area would change its numbers if a split is approved? The western portion of South Jersey -- the area that corresponds roughly to the suburbs of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. -- would receive a new area code under a split. In other words, with a split one million customers in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties would need to change their area codes. How many towns would be broken by a geographic split? A geographic split would cut through eight towns: Dennis, Maurice River, Buena Vista, Monroe, Winslow, Waterford, Medford and Willingboro. How many towns would be broken by an overlay? Not one -- now or in the foreseeable future. How many South Jersey customers would need to change their current area codes with an overlay? Not one. An overlay allows customers to keep their current area codes and numbers. Will either method of area-code relief affect plans for local competition? Not at all. Customers who take their business to a local-service provider other than Bell Atlantic will not have their telephone numbers changed. This feature of local competition, known as number portability, is mandated by the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1995. Why can't New Jersey do a geographic split without dividing towns? Because telephone circuits frequently cross municipal lines and cannot be reconstructed at anything approaching a reasonable cost. The circuits are situated that way for two reasons: The first is that New Jersey's telephone system evolved with population, not town boundaries in mind. That is, circuits were constructed near population centers, and those centers did not necessarily correspond to town boundaries. The second is that many circuits, while now constructed of modern equipment, originally were laid down before some New Jersey towns were incorporated. How many telephone numbers are there in New Jersey? Theoretically, each area code generates eight million numbers. But because some number combinations can't be used -- numbers that begin with 1 or 0, for example -- each area code actually has about 7.7 million useable numbers. So New Jersey's three area codes have a total of 23.1 million numbers. When did New Jersey get its first area code? The 201 area code was created in 1951. It was followed in 1963 by 609, and in 1991 by 908. When 908 was carved out of 201, the new telephone numbers created in both area codes were projected to last until 2005. Currently, 201 is expected to run out in June 1997 and 908 will run out in October 1997. Numbers in the 609 area are expected to exhaust in the second quarter of 1998. Have other states approved an overlay like the one Bell Atlantic is proposing for New Jersey? State regulators in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York have approved overlays. Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE: BEL) is at the forefront of the new communications, entertainment and information industry. In the mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing high-growth national and international business opportunities in all phases of the industry. ---------------------- John Cropper NiS / NexComm PO Box 277 Pennington, NJ USA 08534-0277 Inside NJ : 609.637.9434 Outside NJ: 888.NPA.NFO2 (672.6362) Fax : 609.637.9430 email: psyber@usa.pipeline.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 17:13:04 EDT From: Steve Samler Subject: Information Needed on Koll Telecom, Skycom and Globalcom Koll is purportedly in the the wireless equipment business. Skycom is owned or controled by Globalcom Holdings. Both of these companies are in wireless and paging services business. Any help would certainly be appreciated. Steve Samler Editorial Manager, Communications Individual, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 18:34:47 -0700 From: satchell@accutek.com (Stephen Satchell) Subject: Christian Coalition Uses Motorola Envoy Organization: Satchell Evaluations I have been avoiding the coverage of the Republican National Convention, but while trying to channel-surf away I stumbled across an interesting story being covered either on CNN or PBS about how the Christian Coalition is using the Motorola Envoy as a way to link up their floor people with a central data collection center. For those of you not familiar with the Envoy, it's a personal message pad (using the MagicCap operating system) with a built-in radio. This means that the Envoy can use a radio data link to communicate with a base station in both directions -- a rather nifty thing when trying to poll the sense of the delegates. This means that not only can each delegate-watcher get and send mail, but the applications written for the Christian Coalition can also receive a survey request from the base station over the air, which means that any delegate survey can be set up and running in minutes. (NB: I have worked with the Envoy and find it a pretty neat package.) It's a slick setup using off-the-shelf hardware and technology. Stephen Satchell, Satchell Evaluations http://www.accutek.com/~satchell ------------------------------ From: Andrew White Subject: InterLATA connectivity in 609? Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 22:37:58 -0400 Organization: DCANet - Delaware Common Access Network Hello, fellow telecom enthusiasts. I am working on a project that requires that I run a T1 circuit between the two LATAs in South Jersey, the Atlantic LATA and the Delaware LATA. These two LATAs comprise the 609 area code. I've gotten some quotes from national vendors of Inter-LATA DS1 and frame-relay circuits, but the prices are outrageous -- mostly over $3,000 per month. I've gotten quotes from EMI, Cable & Wireless, and LDDS/WorldCom. I can't imagine MCI, Sprint, or AT&T would be any less expensive. Does anyone know of a vendor, or a less expensive approach, to obtaining 768kbps or greater connectivity between the two LATAs? If you post a follow-up message, an e-mail copy of your message is appreciated. Andrew White | DCANet: Internet Access for the Delaware Valley andrew@dca.net | Offering dialup, ISDN, and dedicated Internet access (302) 654-1019 | in the 215/302/610 area codes. http://andrew.white.org/ | e-mail: info@dca.net web: http://www.dca.net/ ------------------------------ From: Emily Van Dunk Subject: Cellular Tower Agreement Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 22:45:30 -0500 Organization: Internet Connect, Inc. The Wisconsin ISP 414-476-4266 Reply-To: emily@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu I am looking for some information. Our church has been approached by a major cellular service provider to place their antenna on our steeple. Our church is located in a rather densely populated area in Milwaukee, WI (about one mile from a major interstate). They are offering $7000 a year. After doing some poking around it seems that this is quite low (most agreements I've heard about are around $25,000). Can anyone give advice, or references regarding a fair price ... or any other issues? Any information is much appreciated. TIA, Emily Van Dunk emily@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'd think you could get them to go a wee bit higher in their payments. You might also want to hold out for something which will cost them virtually nothing: cellular phone service for your key employees, i.e. the pastor; office personnel who need to keep in touch regularly; the building engineer/custodian; etc. You are looking at perhaps $200-300 per month in cellular service if it were billed for, but it does not cost the company nearly that much, particularly if it was known that "cellular phone service for church employees was provided through the generosity of xxx company". I'd try to get a bit more than the $7000 per year, but I would not push too much harder, particularly if they are willing to toss in free service and essentially have their tower totally out of sight and handle all required changes to the building wiring needed as their complete responsibility. Its not like you were out in a rural area and the cellular company had nowhere else close by to locate their tower. If you push for too much more, they'll find someone around there with a tall building to do it for them. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 09:23:53 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Jeopardy Situation in NPA 407 (Florida) From a search on "PL-" documents on Bellcore's Catalog via the web, Area Code 407 in Florida seems to be in a "jeopardy situation". The document which declares this is "PL-NANP-007", dated 6 August 1996. The description of the document (which is *outrageously* priced at US$10.00) indicates that it is only *TWO* pages long, probably just a cover sheet and a single page with a brief paragraph describing that central-office NXX codes are being used up rather fast. Area Code 407 was just recently split, with the new Area Code 561, going into permissive dialing on 13 May 1996, with mandatory dialing to begin on 13 April 1997. MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 09:39:52 -0700 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Recent Bellcore NANPA "PL's" In another submission to the TELECOM Digest, I mentioned the Bellcore NANPA "PL" (Planning Letter) regarding the "jeopardy situation" in NPA 407 (Florida), and the fact that these PL's are now US$10.00. Other new NANPA "PL's" (Planning Letters) now available, which I found from a search on Bellcore's Catalog webpage, and all PL's are now at a price, at US$10.00 (although some 'longer' PL's could be priced more) include: PL-NANP-001 (2 July 1996) (six-pages) Introduction of NPA 869 for St.Kitts and Nevis (split from 809) PL-NANP-002 (11 July 1996) (four-pages) Introduction of NPA 345 for Cayman Islands (split from 809) PL-NANP-003 (12 July 1996) (four-pages) Introduction of NPA 767 for Dominica (split from 809) PL-NANP-004 (5 August 1995) (six-pages) Introduction of NPA 671 for Guam PL-NANP-005 (5 August 1995) (thirty-four-pages) Split of NPA 214 (Texas) (it doesn't mention 972 as the new NPA code in the description, however) PL-NANP-006 (5 August 1995) (thirty-two pages) Split of NPA 713 (Texas) (it doesn't mention 281 as the new NPA code in the description, however) And for those who might hope that I have received these PL's, unfortunately, NO, I have not received them, as I have *NOT* allowed myself to be placed on automatic standing order for Bellcore NANPA's 'new' and *priced* Planning Letters, costing (at least) US$10.00 per PL. However, I have not yet decided if I will purchase any of these PL's, as they do include the Caribbean and Guam. There was no mention of a PL announcing anything on CNMI, 670. I wonder if the Guam and Caribbean PL's include maps or lists of central office NXX codes, as these PL's are more than just one or two pages, according to the description. I have absolutely *NO* plans to purchase the two-page PL indicating that Florida's 407 Area Code is going into a 'jeopardy' situation, even if this PL were only 50-cents! MARK J. CUCCIA PHONE/WRITE/WIRE: HOME: (USA) Tel: CHestnut 1-2497 WORK: mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu |4710 Wright Road| (+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity 5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New Orleans 28 |fwds on no-answr to Fax:UNiversity 5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 10:27:22 CDT From: H.A. Kippenhan Jr. Subject: Detritus of 708 Area Code Change Hi: We've just gotten our first notification here at Fermilab about switch software updates that will change the SPID values on all NI-1 ISDN BRI lines. As an example, the 5ESS that serves Geneva and the 5E Remote Module that provides Centrex service to Fermilab will be upgraded on Oct. 17. You may wish to enquire if any of the readers have the complete list for the entire 708 (er, now 630) area code and would care to post it? Best regards, H.A. Kippenhan Jr. | Internet: Kippenhan@FNAL.GOV | HEP Network Resource Center | HEPnet/NSI DECnet: FNDCD::KIPPENHAN | Fermi National Accelerator Lab. | Voice: (630) 840-8068 | P.O. Box 500 MS: FCC-3E/368 | FAX: (630) 840-8208 | Batavia, Illinois 60510 | http://www.hep.net/people/kippenhan.html| [TELECOM Dgiest Editor's Note: I live around here, and I don't even have a copy of the 630/708 split which took place last week. I do not know if Ameritech has even printed a complete copy of the list of which prefixes go where for public use, but I suppose they must have. 630 has been in use for cellular/paging only since January, 1995 when they quit assigning any more cellular/paging numbers in 708. As of this past week, the far western suburbs of Chicago (Dupage County) split from 708 and went into 630. You can begin by looking at the '630-708-847' files in the Telecom Archives in the /areacodes directory therein. You will find there what information I have available although I am sure it needs to be updated somewhat. PAT] ------------------------------ From: x@worldnet.att.net Subject: ATT (Lucent) Computer Telephone 8130 Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 11:50:22 GMT Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services I recently bought the ATT Computer Telephone 8130. This turns out to be a new, but discontinued, product that is now somewhat supported by Lucent. It's a CTI (Computer-Telephony Integration) product - a TAPI compliant two-line caller id phone with a serial cable connecting it to your Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 PC. The only application software included is a very basic address book and call log application, but no facility is provided for import or export of the data. Because this is a TAPI device, it should be usable with various PIMs, but there are a variety of limitations involved. Also, the driver software seems to put an inordinate load on the CPU. Since this unit is discontinued and all but unsupported, I'm looking for other people who have bought this unit and have advice (or even shareware) to help me make the most of it or, if need be, return it while I still have the option. Also, I'm wondering if there is a newgroup for users of CTI or TAPI (especially SOHO users such as myself). I was unable to find one. Please email me directly as well as replying to this post. Thanks. ------------------------------ From: bsharp@cris.com (Brian M. Sharp) Subject: Rural Internet Access Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 22:28:51 GMT Organization: Concentric Internet Services Is there any way people living outside a metropolitan area can get internet access without having to pay per hour? With all the interest in the internet, isn't there some service that can see the huge number of people in this uncomfortable position? B.S. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some small towns have an ISP or two in the community. Bill Pfieffer has told me for example that where he lives, there are two or three ISPs including a Free Net in the nearby (also relatively small) town of Springfield, Missouri. I think it is just a matter of time until small towns everywhere are included in the net. Maybe we need someone like Andrew Carnagie, the steel mill baron of the 19th century who went around to small towns all over the United States building public libraries, to do the same now with Free Nets. A century later, there are still a large number of 'Carnagie Library' facilities all over the country; for the most part still using the endowments established for them by Andrew Carnagie. Bill Gates is to be praised for the donation he made to the Chicago Public Library system getting them 'online'. Now if Gates and a few others would just do the same thing for libraries all over the United States, so that even if there was no Free Net in town, people could at least go to their local library and participate in the net. A century ago at the (then) very prominent Central Church of Chicago, Dr. George Gunaslov preached one day on the topic 'The Million Dollar Dream'. The things I could do, he said, if I had a million dollars; and he talked about starting a university. Afterward, he was approached by Mr. Armour -- of the meat packing/processing company -- who offered to do just that. Out of it came the Armour Institute which today a century later we know as the Illinois Institute of Technology, one of the finest schools of higher education in the midwest. Will we ever again experience the greatness of the latter years of the nineteenth century as all the new promises for America -- the things we take for granted today -- came to pass? I guess you could say this is my million dollar dream: to see libraries throughout the USA connected to the internet; and to see Free Nets in small towns everywhere. Today the great promise is that thing sitting in front of your face as you read this message. Where are the Carnagies and the Rockefellers to do today for America what those men did a century ago? Where are they to join Bill Gates? I'll close this issue with a quote from the poet John Bunyan who said, "I am opp- ressed by things undone; oh! that my dreams and deeds were one." PAT] ------------------------------ 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 #407 ******************************