Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id IAA26725; Thu, 13 Mar 1997 08:57:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 08:57:04 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199703131357.IAA26725@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #64 TELECOM Digest Thu, 13 Mar 97 08:57:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 64 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phone Directories (was Re: Dialing *70 on Non-Call-Waiting) (Stan Cline) Book Review: "Real World Networking With NT 4" by Holderby (Rob Slade) Sprint PCS (Tad Cook) NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Michael J. Kuras) South Carolina Rejects Rural Status for GTE (Tad Cook) Book Review: "Troubleshooting TCP/IP" by Miller (Rob Slade) Participants Needed for Internet Telephony Trial (Quintillion Comm) Nostalgia For "Beep" Line (Michael N. Marcus) U.S. Bells Seen Joining Teleglobe in Call Plan (Chris Farrar) 1-800-Comp-usa Screws up Call Waiting (Keith Knipschild) Bellsouth Says Atlanta May Get Two New Area Codes (Tad Cook) 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 hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu. The URL is: http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to tel-archives@massis.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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: roamer1@RemoveThis.pobox.com (Stanley Cline) Subject: Phone Directories (was Re: Dialing *70 on Non-Call-Waiting Line) Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 17:28:54 GMT Organization: C3 Services Co., Chatt., TN Reply-To: roamer1@RemoveThis.pobox.com On Sun, 09 Mar 1997 16:05:51 -0500, Ed Ellers wrote: > If you think that's bad, here's a really ridiculous one. Ever notice > how some phone companies' directories contained a notice saying that > the directory remained the property of the telco, and no cover not > provided by the telco could be attached to the directory? I'd always Oddly enough, some *still* do -- even though those directories are distributed via bulk mail, to customers of BellSouth. It's plain DUMB to say such a thing to a customer of an ex-Bell LEC! Even worse, the local-prefix listing for some of the indep telcos around here DOES NOT list most Tennessee-side cellular or pager prefixes, or new NXXs dating back to *1991*, as local calls! (If 1+423 *is* dialed on such calls, they are not charged.) Better *not* base your PBX programming on that list! In the north Georgia area, two of the independent telcos -- Chickamauga/Fail Telephone and ALLTEL -- now distribute their directories across the north Georgia area, to their own customers, to customers of the other, competing "publisher", to customers of other indeps (Ringgold and Trenton, mainly) and to customers of BellSouth. The directories have combined listings for the northwest Georgia area, as well as *business* listings for the Tennessee nearby area (Chattanooga.) Yet the Chattanooga directory itself (distributed to BellSouth's customers only) has listings for *all* of the indeps' areas! * Trenton - gets own telco, and ALLTEL's [note that most of Trenton is a toll call to Chattanooga, and *certainly* to Chickamauga, LaFayette, and Ringgold!] * Chickamauga/Fail - gets own telco and ALLTEL's -- BellSouth upon request, or from a BellSouth customer :-) * LaFayette [ALLTEL] - gets own telco and Chickamauga's * Ringgold - gets own telco, ALLTEL's, Chickamauga's, and also Dalton [interLATA toll-free only on AT&T and DeltaCom] "talking yellow pages" (non-telco) * BellSouth NW GA (me) - *own telco* Chattanooga, as well as Chickamauga's and ALLTEL's Needless to say, I'm awash in phone books, all of which have listings for Chickamauga, LaFayette, Ringgold, and the Ft. Oglethorpe [BellSouth] area!! What's really strange is that the BellSouth phone book for Chattanooga *still* doesn't have listings for the "metro area" EAS, which includes the Cleveland, Dayton, and Jasper areas. (HOWEVER, directories for these areas are free to customers for which those areas are local calls, or covered under Area+ or RegionServ, optional EAS plans.) I've been told the main reason they *haven't* been included is because such calls are TOLL CALLS from their GEORGIA customers -- a small minority of the local calling area -- and would invite confusion. > assumed that this was to make sure that the ads on the back cover > would remain visible, but a look in a Louisville phone book from the > 1950s provided the answer. I found even more nostalgia from a *1997* [Chickamauga] phone book -- mention of "the mobile operator" [is IMTS still around?], Zenith and Enterprise and WX numbers, and such old stuff! Even funnier, it says "To call anyone in Georgia" dial 1+, but *doesn't* mention OUT-OF-STATE calls, or the availability of equal access from the Chickamauga area! But in the back cover of the SAME phone book -- ads for (telco's resale) long distance service, and internet access! Stanley Cline (Roamer1 on IRC) ** GO BRAVES! GO VOLS! dba C3 Services Company, Chattanooga, TN mailto:roamer1@pobox.com ** http://www.pobox.com/~roamer1/ From: line changed so I get NO SPAM! See http://www.vix.com/spam/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 12:22:17 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Real World Networking With NT 4" by Holderby BKRWNWNT.RVW 961121 "Real World Networking with NT 4", William Holderby, 1996, 1-557610-055-3, U$39.99/C$55.99 %A William Holderby holder@acadiacom.net %C 7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 %D 1996 %G 1-557610-055-3 %I Coriolis %O U$39.99/C$55.99 800-410-0192 602-483-0192 fax: 602-483-0193 %O sbounds@coriolis.com anne_tull@coriolis.com %P 550 %T "Real World Networking with NT 4" The introduction promises that this book is for the person who does not have a background with either the Windows NT operating system or networking. By and large, it delivers. The text is practical and straightforward, while identifying most of the areas a network administrator would have to deal with in establishing an NT network or server. One could not say it is complete. That would be a very difficult task, given the wide range of networking options covered by NT. The book does provide a good overview, and a good deal of operating information at the button punching level. The chapter on security, for example, covers the functions and provisions of the various security options, but really does not address the issue of network security as such. One reasonably important area that is missing is that of hardware. Since NT can run on multiple hardware platforms, it might be objected that it would be hard to know where to stop once begun. However, the lack of this information, particularly in regard to installation, does compromise the book's usefulness. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKRWNWNT.RVW 961121 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca ------------------------------ Subject: Sprint PCS Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 13:43:54 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Sprint PCS' $10 Billion Investment in 65 Cities about to Pay Off By Dennis Pearce, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 11--Sprint PCS has spent $10 billion to bring digital wireless telephones to Wichita and 64 other cities across the United States by the middle of the year. Wichita is among the first 30 cities in the United States to go on line with the new system because Sprint and area zoning authorities worked so well together, Tom Mateer, area vice president of the Westwood-based company, said Monday. "We were able to get our cell sites acquired and constructed earlier than at other sites," Mateer said at the new Sprint PCS store at 3101 N. Rock Road. There are about 30 employees locally. Sprint spent $4.5 million to build the CD-quality network and another $4.9 million to buy the Wichita license. The digital telephone operates on a higher frequency than do cellular systems, so while the quality of tone is better, it doesn't go as far. Therefore more antennae are needed than with cellular telephones. Sprint has installed the antennae in new locations and on existing structures. Sprint is counting heavily on the new technology and its brand name to "deliver to consumers the promise of wireless communications," Mateer said. "By that I mean we're going to give them unsurpassed quality and improved reliability, with fewer blocked or dropped calls, and better security." He said it's impossible to use a radio scanner to eavesdrop on a digital telephone call, unless the snooper has sophisticated knowledge and expensive equipment. With Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and British Princess Diana in the news over their supposedly private conversations being overheard, "people are aware that anyone can listen in on those (cellular) conversations," Mateer said. "If you're trying to conduct some sensitive business transactions, or even your personal conversation, no one wants somebody listening in. So privacy is very important." As is beating "cloning," he said. "Anyone who has had their number stolen over the air and had it used by someone fraudulently knows what a hassle it is to have a $6,000 phone bill and have to go through the process of getting that corrected." Sprint offers three plans: $27 a month for 60 minutes, $57 a month for 180 minutes and $107 a month for 420 minutes. Extra time is priced at peak and non-peak rates. For the next 60 days, Sprint is offering half-price deals on all three packages for the first year. The coverage area includes Wichita, Newton, Andover, Augusta, El Dorado, Derby and Mulvane. The company will expand its coverage this year to include Wellington and Hutchinson. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 18:11:02 -0500 From: mkuras@ccs.neu.edu (Michael J Kuras) Subject: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Busy tones are a way of life for computer users, and NYNEX has pulled a beauty of a blunder trying to help us out. Not only has NYNEX been blitzing the Boston area with TV & radio spots espousing the vitues of *66, they've gone one step further: when you get a busy tone, a friendly voice automatically breaks in and tells me that the number I'm calling is busy (really? no kidding?) and would I like to spend $.50 to have it redialed for me? It's a really nice gesture except for one problem: the busy tones are cut off too quickly for my modem to recognize them and hang up. It just sits there. So I called NYNEX and (after waiting on hold until they were good and ready to deal with me) asked them to remove this feature. She cheerily said "Sure. That'll take 24 hours." Fine. 24 hours is ridiculous, but I don't complain. T+24 hours: I dialed in again, got a busy signal, plus that familiar voice, "The number you dialed is busy..." I called NYNEX back and politely asked why it hasn't been removed. (hold hold hold...) "Well sir, ever since They turned this feature on every modem user in the region has called in asking to get it removed. The Repair Department is swamped. They'll try to get to it as soon as they can. Maybe tomorrow." Let's recap: (1) a computerized operator breaks in every time I get a busy signal. (2) It prevents mine and apparently all other modems from functioning properly. (3) They're too busy to turn it off. (4) (and this really ticks me off) They didn't implement a *xx feature to let users turn it off on a per-call basis! Is NYNEX *so* incompetant that no one there thought this thing through? (well ... YES!) michael j kuras www.ccs.neu.edu/~mkuras mkuras@ccs.neu.edu ------------------------------ Subject: South Carolina Rejects Rural Status for GTE Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 23:29:44 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) South Carolina Regulators Reject 'Rural' Status for GTE By Leroy Chapman Jr., The State, Columbia, S.C. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 12--State regulators opened the door Tuesday for long-distance giant AT&T to begin competing as a local service provider in markets now dominated by General Telephone. The state Public Service Commission denied a request by GTE to be classified as a rural service provider. The commissioners then ordered GTE to sell wholesale local service to AT&T for 18.66 percent below retail. By denying the request to classify GTE as a rural phone service provider, the PSC headed off a bid by GTE to delay, and possibly exempt itself from, competition. By ordering GTE to sell wholesale service to AT&T, the commission ensured that competition will probably begin in GTE markets within a few months. "We would have a hard time explaining how the largest telephone company in the country is rural," said Commissioner C. Dukes Scott, whose district includes Columbia. Stan Bugner, a GTE spokesman, said he was disappointed at the company's not being classified as a rural provider. "We felt there would've been some advantage to the commission and customers if we had maintained our rural exemption," Bugner said. Tuesday's decision means that AT&T, the largest company that has expressed interest in becoming a local service competitor in South Carolina, can compete for 1.1 million customers in the state. GTE has about 160,000 local service customers along the Grand Strand and in the Pee Dee. BellSouth, which was ordered by the PSC last week to sell service and parts of its network to AT&T, has one million customers statewide. Last month, GTE and AT&T went to arbitration with the PSC to resolve issues the companies couldn't agree on related to AT&T's entry into local service. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 broke local phone service monopolies and allows long-distance, cable and wireless communications companies to get into each other's businesses. The intent of the act is to lower prices through competition. AT&T can enter GTE's market by buying wholesale service from GTE and reselling it, buying parts of GTE's network and reassembling it, or building its own network. AT&T plans eventually to do all three. But, the state Consumer Affairs Division has criticized the PSC for not allowing deeper wholesale discounts that may facilitate competition. AT&T will be able to buy local service from GTE now priced at $15.96 per month per residential customer for $12.98. Then, AT&T can resell the service, adding its billing and marketing overhead. Whatever is left is profit. Elliott Elam, the consumer affairs attorney that keeps an eye on utilities' pricing, says that because the discounts aren't bigger, consumers won't see much savings. "It's just more of the same," Elam said. AT&T echoed Elam's disappointment. "This rate is not going to allow new entrants to come in and offer lower prices unless they are willing to take a loss on business," AT&T spokesman David Arneke said. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 10:39:43 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Troubleshooting TCP/IP" by Miller BKTRBLIP.RVW 961115 "Troubleshooting TCP/IP", Mark A. Miller, 1996, 1-558551-450-3, U$49.95/C$68.00 %A Mark A. Miller mark@diginet.com %C 115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011-4195 %D 1996 %G 1-558551-450-3 %I M&T Books %O U$49.95/C$68.00 +1-212-886-9378 fax: 212-633-0748, 212-807-6654 %O 76712.2644@compuserve.com http://www.mandt.com fburke@fsb.superlink.net %P 772 %T "Troubleshooting TCP/IP, 2nd ed." Miller's book is a very solid, real and complete guide to TCP/IP network troubleshooting. Clear and cogent background material looks not only at the Internet protocols themselves, but also vendor specifics. Chapters look at the protocols layer by layer, in a logical fashion, supported by example sniffer and other logs to demonstrate how to diagnose and identify problems. A final chapter looks at IPv6 and the coming changes. A set of appendices provide, among other things, useful resources, vendor contacts, and a listing of Internet parameters. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKTRBLIP.RVW 961115 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca ------------------------------ From: Quintillion Communications Subject: Participants Needed for Internet Telephony Trial Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 14:19:32 -0500 Organization: Quintillion Communications PARTICIPANTS FROM OUTSIDE THE USA NEEDED FOR INTERNET TELEPHONY MARKET RESEARCH TRIAL Quintillion Communications is seeking participants for an Internet Telephony trial which will begin March 31, 1997. The trial is scheduled to last until May 31, 1997. Quintillion will provide free internet phone calls* to the USA during the trial period. Trial participants must live outside the USA and be willing to make calls using their computer to regular telephones in the USA via the service. Participants will also be expected to: 1. install the internet telephony software supplied by Quintillion 2. have access to the internet 3. answer Quintillion surveys 4. sign a non-disclosure agreement If you are interested in participating in this trial, please apply by March 21 at http://www.quintillion.com/trial We will confirm participation by March 26, and if selected, you will be provided with instructions for downloading the software and using the service by March 31. *Some restrictions may apply. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 10:32:06 -0500 From: Michael N. Marcus Reply-To: michael@ablecomm.com Organization: Able Communications, Inc. Subject: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line Does anyone remember talking on the "beep" line? When I was a student at Lehigh Univ. in Bethlehem, PA in the late 60s, a common method of flirting and hopefully getting dates, was to call your own number to get a busy signal, and then talk to other people between the beeps. Apparently, several or many callers were connected simultaneously to a "beep bus," and they could have interrupted conversations like "I'm BEEP Steve BEEP at BEEP Lehigh BEEP. I BEEP play BEEP football. BEEP Wanna BEEP go BEEP to BEEP a BEEP party? BEEP." A reply could be "Hi BEEP this BEEP is BEEP Suzie BEEP at BEEP Cedarcrest BEEP. I'm BEEP a BEEP blonde BEEP cheerleader BEEP. Call BEEP me BEEP at BEEP 233 BEEP 4479 BEEP." I have no idea how this was discovered, but it was passed-on to each incoming freshman class. Does anyone know how many callers could be connected simultaneously to one beep bus? Does it exist on modern CO switches? Is this "feature" still in use at colleges? Did any of you find a date or spouse this way? Michael N. Marcus Able Communications, Inc. www.ablecomm.com michael@ablecomm.com ------------------------------ From: Chris Farrar Subject: U.S. Bells Seen Joining Teleglobe in Call Plan Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 16:58:34 -0500 Organization: Sympatico Reply-To: cfarrar@sympatico.ca U.S. Bells Seen Joining Teleglobe in Call Plan NEW YORK (Reuter) - Three regional Bells phone companies, salivating over the potential of the huge U.S. long-distance market, are arming themselves with an international calling capability through Canada's Teleglobe Inc., sources close to the deal say. Teleglobe has contracts with Ameritech Corp., Bell-South Corp., and Bell Atlantic Corp. that start with calling cards but are expected to expand to full international calling, sorces close to the deals said yesterday. Chicago-based Ameritech will annoucne international calling card services using Teleglobe today, the sources said. The deals wiht the other two Bells will not be annoucned for several months, the sources added. Ameritech will offer subscribers to its calling card the ability to call home or anywhere else from around the world. These calls are billed to the home phone. The cards also would allow collect calling from abroad. None of the companies involved would comment yesterday. Chris Farrar | cfarrar@sympatico.ca | Amateur Radio, a VE3CFX | fax +1-905-457-8236 | national resource PGPkey Fingerprint = 3B 64 28 7A 8C F8 4E 71 AE E8 85 31 35 B9 44 B2 ------------------------------ From: Keith Knipschild Subject: 1-800-Comp-USA Screws up Call Waiting Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 12:15:21 -0500 I was calling 1-800-Comp-USA (1-800-266-7872) today, and listened to the prerecorded info. There is an option #2 to connect to my local Store, which I thought was pretty cool ... But that's not the info; I was UNABLE to Recieve any Call Waiting calls while I was connected to this 800 number. Plus I could not even get another DIAL TONE to make a conferenece call (three-way calling). What causes this? Is it a national thing? Keith@unix.asb.com == SLIP-PPP Internet Address Keith@asb.com == BBS Internet Address Http://www.asb.com/usr/keith == WWW Page URL Address Knipper@compuserve.com == Compuserve Internet Address Knipper@worldnet.att.net == ATT WorldNet Internet Address Fknipsch@suffolk.lib.ny.us == My Free Internet Shell Account 70302,2701 == CompuServe Address N2NJS@KC2FD.NY.USA.NA == Ham Radio AX25 Packet Address [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Usually custom calling features such as call-waiting and three-way calling are not available when you place a call until the call has supervised (if it stays within your local central office) or at least until it leaves your office on its way to the destination. The theory behind disallowing call-waiting for (what should be) an interval of a few seconds when you place a call is that the call-waiting tone would otherwise disrupt your dialing, and I suppose it could also mess up the supervision attempt somehow. To test this out, take one phone off hook and dial just a digit or two, then use another line to call that number. You will get a busy signal until after the (first phone being used) has finished dialing, the line 'clicks' and the call goes on its way to wherever. Dial that number again and now the call waiting is restored. Likewise, you cannot set up a three way call in the middle of dialing a number. This leads me to believe that for some reason the 800 number you were dialing is not correctly 'supervising'; your local central office does not seem to feel the distant end ever answered the line; consequently it is unwilling to give you back your custom calling features. Whether this is an overall problem with the Compu-USA number nationally or some malfunction in your local central office will have to be detirmined. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Bellsouth Says Atlanta May Get Two New Area Codes Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 23:32:56 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) BellSouth Seeks at Least One New Area Code for Atlanta By Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 12--BellSouth Corp. said it will to file a formal warning today that at least one new area code will be needed in metro Atlanta. Although the first filing will have few details, the company might wind up asking for two new area codes -- perhaps covering the 404 area that centers on Atlanta, as well as 770, which covers the rapid growth north of I-285. "This would be the first notice," said Public Service Commission spokesman Shawn Davis. "Up to now, there has been nothing official." BellSouth, which confirmed last week that at least one new code would be needed, said it will provide data that demonstrated the increased demand on the phone system after it meets with telecommunications industry members over the next several weeks. The company said it is still compiling that information. In 1995, when the 404 area code was divided and 770 created, BellSouth predicted an eight-year hiatus before residents and businesses would again need to cope with the cost and inconvenience of a new area code. BellSouth officials now say they were simply too conservative about telecommunications growth that has included pagers and wireless phones, as well as second lines for fax machines, computers and teenagers. The syndrome is national, said Ken Branson, media manager for Bellcore, the New Jersey engineering firm that manages the nation's area codes. Area codes were introduced in 1947, and the first 144 codes lasted until 1995. Since then, the nation has added 51 area codes, leaving fewer than 600 possibilities, he said. Area codes cannot begin with either 1 or 0. And an area code can't be a number such as 911 and 411 -- three-digit numbers that can be dialed to complete a call. Each area code can handle 7.92 million telephone numbers, Branson said. "The arithmetic is inexorable. There are 7.92 million of those puppies, and when they are gone, they are gone." While BellSouth is unable to provide statistics, its filing indicates that the 770 area code will approach saturation next year. Options are many for implementing one or two new area codes. For example, 770 might be split and a new code added. Or a new code (or codes) could be added in 770 (and perhaps in 404, too) that would only be given to new listings. That way no one would be forced to change area code. The latter option, however, would force everyone in the affected area to dial at least 10 numbers to call anyone. Speculation about what area codes might be given to metro Atlanta is premature, Branson said. "They can call us and ask us to reserve a number. They have not done that yet. And we would not assign a number until we saw a final plan." Bellcore has become familiar with the resistance to area codes, objections based on a combination of cost, convenience, snobbery and habit, Branson said. "We know it's inconvenient. It is probably less inconvenient than not making phone calls." ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #64 *****************************