Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA14131; Sat, 15 Mar 1997 09:15:27 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 09:15:27 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199703151415.JAA14131@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #66 TELECOM Digest Sat, 15 Mar 97 09:15:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 66 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The 7 Keys to Effective Web Sites" by Sachs/Stair (Rob Slade) North Carolina to Get Three New Area Codes in 1998 (Bob Goudreau) Telecoms Newsline Now on the Web (Peter Judge) Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line (Tad Cook) Book Review: "Java How to Program" by Deitel/Deitel (Rob Slade) Is Lucent Technologies Trying to Shut Down Small Business Division (T Betz) Updated GSM List 03/07/97 (Jurgen Morhofer) Man Waits 20 Years, Dies Before Getting Phone Service (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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:16:39 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The 7 Keys to Effective Web Sites" by Sachs/Stair BK7KTEWS.RVW 961116 "The 7 Keys to Effective Web Sites", David Sachs/Henry Stair, 1997, 0-13-490087-1, U$26.95/C$37.95 %A David Sachs dsachs@ibm.net %A Henry Stair stair@mycroft.com %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-490087-1 %I Prentice Hall %O U$26.95/C$37.95 +1-201-236-7139 fax: 201-236-7131 beth_hespe@prenhall.com %P 318 %T "The 7 Keys to Effective Web Sites" Most Web books contain pages and pages of screen shots, simply filling space. At first glance, this one appears to be different. The authors do point out that you are the one who has to define "effective". But it is telling that the first "key" is "visually appealing". The seven points covered are all to be taken seriously, and the brief introductory content behind each does have some valid ideas. However, it becomes difficult to see what the pages and pages of screen shots tacked on to the explanations have to say in support of the points. So, in the end, we are again left with pages and pages of screen shots. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BK7KTEWS.RVW 961116 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:54:06 -0500 From: goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) Subject: North Carolina to Get Three New Area Codes in 1998 Today's (3/14) issue of Raleigh's _The_News_&_Observer_ contained a front-page article describing how North Carolina telcos are asking the state PUC for a ruling on how three new NPAs will be added next year (to NC's existing three area codes). As is usual for this sort of event in late 1990s America, some telcos prefer geographic splits and others want overlays. (The article apparently left no room for a combination of splits and overlays; it implied that either all three existing NPAs would be split or else that each of the three would receive its own overlay.) Also as usual, the PUC has already issued a knee-jerk reaction against overlays and 10D dialing, so IMHO, it seems likely that we'll get splits this time around. The article included a map showing how each of the three current NPAs (704 in the west, 910 in the center, and 919 in the east) might be split. The lines are drawn in the obvious places: -- 704 shrinks to the immediate Charlotte metro area, leaving most of the land area of western NC in a new NPA; -- 919 shrinks to the immediate "Research Triangle" (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) metro area, leaving most of the land area of eastern NC in another new NPA; -- 910 is divided in two NPAs of fairly equal land area. The northern piece includes the "Piedmont Triad" (Greensboro, Winston- Salem, High Point) metro area, plus points north up to the Virginia state line; the southern piece includes south-central cities such as Fayetteville, and the southeastern coastal zone including Wilmington. Apparently, unlike the other two NPA's split schemes, there's still some contention about which part of 910 gets to keep the old NPA. To me it seems obvious that the Triad metro area should win; none of the cities in the southern part of 910 come close in size or in the amount of business activity. Of course, given that 910 itself was split off from 919 only a bit more than three years ago, I can understand both sides' goal of avoiding getting socked with Yet Another Area Code Change in so short an interval. North Carolina will thus end up tripling its count of area codes (from two to six) in less than five years. If the split plan is adopted, the only areas which will exit the 1990s with the same phone numbers that they entered the decade with will be the Charlotte metro area (using the rump of 704) and the Research Triangle metro area (the twice-reduced rump of 919). Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 19:14:09 +0000 From: Peter Judge Subject: Telecoms Newsline Now on the Web Dear Pat, Many thanks for the excellent work on TELECOM Digest. It's continually useful and interesting. You've given a mention before to Telecoms Newsline, the e-mail news service I edit - it would be very nice if you could mention our new Web site - thanks: Telecoms Newsline now on the Web Telecoms Newsline, the independent news service on the telecoms market, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, is now available on the Web, at http://www.telecomsnewsline.com The Telecoms Newsline fortnightly e-mail bulletin has been published for two years. Now it will also appear on the Web, with the back issues available as a searchable archive. We also have links to telecoms related information (as well as a few words from our sponsor, of course). Please visit and let us know what you think. If you have suggestions for additions or alterations, please let us know. If you know of good sites we should link to, please tells us. Your feedback can help us develop this service to make it as useful as possible to you. To subscribe to Telecoms Newsline send mail to with 'subscribe hp' in the message body. Peter Judge Phone/Fax +44 181 671 4842 e-mail:peter@pjudge.demon.co.uk, peter@owp.co.uk Out of date homepage: http://www.pjudge.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 14:52:07 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Michael N. Marcus wrote: > 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. When I was 14 (1966) we used to do this on the Ski Report line in Seattle. This was a recorded message that played the snow report for the ski areas near Seattle over and over. During the period between the end and beginning of the message one could yell and be heard by folks on all of the other dial-in lines. There seemed to be a lot of cross-talk. The standard protocol was to yell "ANY GIRLS ON THE LINE-CALL EA4-9901". We called this "service" the Hot Line. I had just purchased an old bakelite rotary dial phone by mail order from Lafayette Electronics and installed it in my bedroom, which was in the basement of my parent's house, accessable only from the outside. I could get into all sorts of mischief because it was like my own apartment. I met a lot of intersting people, but the one I remember most was Charlene and her roommate. They lived somewhere in south Seattle, and were 19. I had a deep voice and could keep a somewhat intelligent conversation going, so they didn't mind talking to this kid of 14 or 15. Eventually we would talk for hours on the phone. One morning I woke up and found I had fallen asleep, and Charlene had too. Both our phones were off the hook all night, and I could hear her breathing at the other end. In 1971 and 1972 I had a job selling cable TV hookups door to door, and I realized at one point that I was going to be in Charlene's old neighborhood. I looked her up, and she was still there. I called her and she remembered me, and I went over to see her for the first time. I was now 19 and she was probably 24. I found an attractive and engaging young woman, and it was fun to finally meet her in person after those several years. (At this same job I was working with a very attractive woman named Judy who was in her mid-20s. She went on to fame and great fortune as JZ Knight, the woman who "channels" RAMTHA, the 20,000 year old warrior-spirit! Judy is another story to be told at another time.) Back to the ski report line, after they found that access to the recording was being clogged by all these kids, they shortened the time between the end and the beginning of the recording. This meant that we had to become much more skilled at yelling out our message quickly. We also tried the dialtone conference feature, but that only connected us with others in our same exchange, whereas the ski line worked for anyone anywhere who called that number. Eventually the ski line didn't work at all anymore. They did some modification to the equipment to get rid of crosstalk. The busy tone conference feature only worked in the old offices where there was a physical busy tone generator. These days it all in the magic of the bits and bytes in the digital CO. Tad Cook tad@ssc.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 10:57:21 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Java How to Program" by Deitel/Deitel BKJAVAHP.RVW 961116 "Java How to Program", H. M. Deitel/P. J. Deitel, 1997, 0-13-263401-5 %A H. M. Deitel deitel@deitel.com %A P. J. Deitel deitel@deitel.com %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-263401-5 %I Prentice Hall %O +1-201-236-7139 fax: +1-201-236-7131 beth_hespe@prenhall.com %P 1050 %T "Java How to Program" Among the teachers I hang out with, "Deitel" is known as *the* C programming text. The author's build on that success with a similar format and style (and an almost identical preface, as far as I can see) in presenting Java. The result is definitely presentable, with clear and organized material. A summary, list of new terminology, list of common errors, and a list of good programming practices accompany each chapter. In addition, there are two sets of exercises: one with the answers provided, and one without. As with the earlier C book, some of the early exercises are trivial, but the later chapters improve a great deal. An instructor's manual is available separately. The coverage of object-orientation is interesting. It is split into two chapters, "Objected-Based Programming", dealing primarily with data abstraction, and "Object-Oriented Programming", which looks at inheritance and polymorphism. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKJAVAHP.RVW 961116 roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca ------------------------------ From: tbetz@panix.com (Tom Betz) Subject: Is Lucent Technologies Trying to Shut Down Small Business Division? Date: 13 Mar 1997 11:40:44 -0500 Organization: Society for the Elimination of Unsolicited Commercial Email Reply-To: tbetz@pobox.com I can't believe the trouble I'm having just trying to get four extensions moved from one floor to another. We lease a Merlin Plus, full up. We have four extensions we aren't using. We want to move them into a previously-unused space. I called Lucent. A tech came out Tuesday. He said, no problem, I'll get a quote to you by the end of the week. A woman named Jane called today, said "you'll need additional equipment". I said, "I need four extensions moved! You don't know what you are talking about. I want to talk to the tech I spoke with Tuesday." She said, "He might not have time to call you." End of conversation. I'm contemplating running the damned four-pair myself (though I really don't have the time to do it), just to get the job done! I thought the whole point of Lucent's spinoff was to become a more competitive company. Have they decided to dump the market segnment I'm in? They are sure behaving like it. We're preparing to install a new system, three times the size of the present system, in an adjacent building we are renovating. Is it any wonder that Lucent Technologies is last on my list of bidders? Tom Betz (914) 375-1510 Want to send me email? First, read this page: [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Check out the final article in this issue entitled 'Man Waits 20 Years For Phone Service Then Dies'. Some might think it was an American telco. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:16:50 +0100 From: Jurgen Morhofer Subject: Updated GSM List 03/07/97 For the latest edition of this list look at my Web-Site: http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/gsm/gsm-list.html kindly supplied by Jutta Degener. And if you're already on the Web, take a look at my commercial site: http://deltos.net/globaltel I really would appreciate your business! (Changes in the list marked by "*") Date 03-07-1997. Country Operator name Network code Tel to customer service ------ ------------- ------------ ----------------------- Albania AMC 276 01 Andorra STA-Mobiland 213 03 Int + 376 824 115 Argentina Australia Optus 505 02 Int + 61 2 342 6000 Telecom/Telstra 505 01 Int + 61 18 01 8287 Vodafone 505 03 Int + 61 2 415 7236 Austria Mobilkom Austria 232 01 Int + 43 1 79701 max.mobil. 232 03 Int + 43 676 2000 Azerbaidjan Azercell Int + 994 12 98 28 23 Bahrain Batelco 426 01 Int + 973 885557 Belgium * Belgacom 206 01 Int + 32 2205 4912 Mobistar 206 10 Bosnia Cronet 218 01 PTT Bosnia 218 19 Botswana Brunei DSTCom 528 11 Jabatan Telekom 528 01 Bulgaria Citron 284 01 Int + 359 88 500031 Cambodia CamGSM Cameroon PTT Cameroon Cellnet 624 01 Chile China Guangdong MCC 460 00 Beijing Wireless China Unicom 460 01 Zhuhai Comms DGT MPT Jiaxing PTT Tjianjin Toll Croatia HR Cronet 219 01 Int + 385 14550772 Cyprus CYTA 280 01 Int + 357 2 310588 Czech Rep. Eurotel Praha 230 02 Int + 42 2 6701 6701 Radio Mobil 230 01 Int + 42 603 603 603 Denmark Sonofon 238 02 Int + 45 8020 2100 Tele Danmark Mobil 238 01 Int + 45 8020 2020 Egypt Arento Estonia EMT 248 01 Int + 372 6 397130 Radiolinja Eesti 248 02 Int + 372 6 399966 Ritabell Ethiopia ETA 636 01 Fiji Vodafone 542 01 Int + 679 312000 Finland Radiolinja 244 05 Int + 358 800 95050 Telecom 244 91 Int + 358 800 17000 Alands Mobil France France Telecom 208 01 Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81 SFR 208 10 Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16 Fr.Polynesia Tikiphone 547 20 Georgia Superphone Germany D1, DeTeMobil 262 01 Int + 49 511 288 0171 D2, Mannesmann 262 02 Int + 49 172 1212 Ghana Franci Walker Ltd ScanCom Gibraltar GibTel 266 01 Int + 350 58 102 000 G Britain Cellnet 234 10 Int + 44 753 504548 Vodafone 234 15 Int + 44 836 1191 Jersey Telecom 234 50 Int + 44 1534 882 512 Guernsey Telecom 234 55 Manx Telecom 234 58 Int + 44 1624 636613 Greece Panafon 202 05 Int + 30 94 400 122 STET 202 10 Int + 30 93 333 333 Guinea Int'l Wireless Hong Kong HK Hutchison 454 04 SmarTone 454 06 Int + 852 2880 2688 Telecom CSL 454 00 Int + 852 2803 8450 Hungary Pannon GSM 216 01 Int + 36 1 270 4120 Westel 900 216 30 Int + 36 30 303 100 Iceland Post & Simi 274 01 Int + 354 800 6330 India Airtel 404 10 Int + 91 10 012345 Essar 404 11 Int + 91 11 098110 Maxtouch 404 20 BPL Mobile 404 21 Command 404 30 Mobilenet 404 31 Skycell 404 40 RPG MAA 404 41 Usha Martin Modi Telstra Sterling Cellular Mobile Telecom Airtouch BPL USWest Koshiki Bharti Telenet Birla Comm Cellular Comms TATA Escotel JT Mobiles Indonesia TELKOMSEL 510 10 Int=A0+ 62 778 455 455 PT Satelit Palapa 510 01 Int + 62 21 533 1881 PT Kartika Excelcom 510 11 Iraq Iraq Telecom 418 ?? Iran T.C.I. 432 11 Int + 98 2 18706341 Celcom Kish Free Zone Ireland Eircell 272 01 Int + 353 42 38888 Digifone 272 02 Italy Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 Ivory Coast Ivoiris 612 03 Int + 225 23 90 00 * Telecel 612 * Comstar 612 01 Int + 225 21 51 51 Japan Jordan JMTS 416 01 Kenya Kenya Telecom Kuwait MTCNet 419 02 Int + 965 484 2000 La Reunion * SRR 647 10 Laos Lao Shinawatra 457 01 Latvia LMT 247 01 Int + 371 256 2191 Lebanon Libancell 415 03 Cellis 415 01 Lesotho Vodacom 651 01 Liechtenstein Natel-D 228 01 Lithuania Omnitel 246 01 Bite GSM 246 02 Int + 370 2 232323 Luxembourg P&T LUXGSM 270 01 Int + 352 4088 7088 Lybia Orbit Macao CTM 455 01 Int + 853 8913912 Macedonia PTT Makedonija 294 01 Malawi TNL 650 01 Malaysia Celcom 502 19 Binariang 502 12 Sapura Digital 502 17 Malta Advanced 278 ?? Marocco O.N.P.T. 604 01 Int + 212 220 2828 Mauritius Cellplus 617 01 Int + 230 4335100 Monaco France Telecom 208 01 Int + 33 1 44 62 14 81 SFR 208 10 Int + 33 1 44 16 20 16 Office des Telephones Mongolia MobiCom Mozambique Telecom de Mocambique Namibia MTC 649 01 Int + 264 81 121212 Netherlands PTT Netherlands 204 08 Int + 31 6 0106 Libertel 204 04 Int + 31 6 54 500100 New Caledonia Mobilis 546 01 New Zealand Bell South 530 01 Int + 64 9 357 5100 Nigeria EMIS Norway NetCom 242 02 Int + 47 92 00 01 68 TeleNor Mobil 242 01 Int + 47 22 78 15 00 Oman * General Telecoms 422 02 Pakistan Mobilink 410 01 Int + 92 51 273971-7 Philippines Globe Telecom 515 02 Int + 63 2 813 7720 Islacom 515 01 Int + 63 2 813 8618 Poland Plus GSM 260 01 ERA GSM 260 02 Portugal Telecel 268 01 Int + 351 931 1212 TMN 268 06 Int + 351 1 791 4474 Qatar Q-Net 427 01 Int +974-325333/400620 Romania MobiTel 226 ?? MobilRom 226 ?? Russia Mobile Tele... Moscow 250 01 Int + 7 095 915-7734 United Telecom Moscow NW GSM, St. Petersburg 250 02 Int + 7 812 528 4747 San Marino Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 SaudiArabia Saudi Telecom Seychelles SEZ SEYCEL 633 01 Serbia Singapore Singapore Telecom 525 01 Int + 65 738 0123 Slovenia * Mobitel 293 41 * Digitel 293 ?? South Africa MTN 655 10 Int + 27 11 445 6001 Vodacom 655 01 Int + 27 82 111 Sri Lanka MTN Networks Pvt Ltd 413 02 Spain Airtel 214 01 Int + 34 07 123000 Telefonica Spain 214 07 Int + 34 09 100909 Sweden Comviq 240 07 Int + 46 586 686 10 Europolitan 240 08 Int + 46 708 22 22 22 Telia 240 01 Int + 46 771 91 03 50 Switzerland PTT Switzerland 228 01 Int + 41 46 05 64 64 Syria SYR MOBILE 417 09 Taiwan LDTA 466 92 Int + 886 2 321 1962=20 Tanzania * Tritel Thailand TH AIS GSM 520 01 Int + 66 2 299 6440 Tunisia Turkey Telsim 286 02 Int + 90 212 288 7850 Turkcell 286 01 Int + 90 800 211 0211 UAE UAE ETISALAT-G1 424 01 UAE ETISALAT-G2 424 02 Int + 971 4004 101 Uganda Celtel Cellular 641 01 Vatican Omnitel 222 10 Int + 39 349 2000 190 Telecom Italia Mobile 222 01 Int + 39 339 9119 Vietnam MTSC 452 01 Zaire Zimbabwe * NET*ONE 648 01 Sincerely, Jurgen Morhofer Tel:+39-6-780-8093 GlobalTel Fax:+39-6-780-8777 If you would like to send a FREE fax anywhere in the world, go to our Web-site at: http://deltos.net/globaltel and click on the "Fax for free" button. ------------------------------ Subject: Man Waits 20 Years, Dies Before Getting Phone Service Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 15:46:44 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Man waits 20 years for phone line but dies before getting it BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- Romanians are used to waiting a long time for a telephone. But 20 years for a dialtone was too long for Constantin Coltea. Coltea, who died last year, applied for a telephone line in 1977. The state telephone company, Romtelecom, responded this month, according to the Evenimentul Zilei daily. In its letter, Romtelecom told Coltea to confirm within 15 days that he still wanted the line or his request would be dropped. Coltea's 81-year-old widow, Caliopi, said she no longer can afford it, living on a $14 monthly pension. Lidia Toboc, a Romtelecom spokeswoman, could not confirm Coltea's case, but said there were two cases a year ago involving applicants who waited 15 years for their service. Since then, she said, "our management has been trying to resolve long-delayed applications." Bribes of up to several hundred dollars are common in Romania to get a line installed more swiftly. The government plans to privatize 30 percent of the phone company. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #66 *****************************