Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA02213; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:09:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:09:04 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199703171409.JAA02213@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #68 TELECOM Digest Mon, 17 Mar 97 09:09:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 68 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "The Art of Electronic Publishing" by Ressler (Rob Slade) BellSouth Mobility DCS to Expand Service/GA&SC (Mike King) New Policy Document Available Online (Mike King) Destiny Telecomm Update From NC (Charles Sheppherd) NCS and GETS - Area Code 710? (Pete Simpson) Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Steve McDonald) Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Seymour Dupa) Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Lee Winson) Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Michael J. Kuras) Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder (Nicholas Marino) Re: Another 800 Pay Number (Bill Turner) Re: Anotehr 800 Pay Number (David E. Bernholdt) Re: Answer Supervision (was Re: 1-800-COMP-USA) (Art Kamlet) Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line (Seymour Dupa) Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line (Bruce Bergman) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 17:32:15 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Art of Electronic Publishing" by Ressler BKAEPIAB.RVW 961117 "The Art of Electronic Publishing", Sandy Ressler, 1997, 0-13-488172-9, U$39.95/C$53.95 %A Sandy Ressler %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-488172-9 %I Prentice Hall %O U$39.95/C$53.95 201-236-7139 fax: 201-236-7131 beth_hespe@prenhall.com %P 450 %T "The Art of Electronic Publishing" Ressler insists that this is not just another book about the World Wide Web. This assertion is true, but it is difficult to say what the book *is* about. There are smatterings of all kinds of stuff generally having to do with publication, printing, and publishing/printing technology. Most of these topics are covered in too little detail to be useful, although they might make interesting reading. Perhaps this would make a good introductory overview of publication technology. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKAEPIAB.RVW 961117 DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca BCVAXLUG Envoy http://www.decus.ca/www/lugs/bcvaxlug.html ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: BellSouth Mobility DCS to Expand Service/GA&SC Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 22:48:00 PST ----- Forwarded Message ----- Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 12:13:21 -0500 (EST) From: BellSouth Subject: BellSouth Mobility DCS to Expand Service to Eastern Georgia and South Carolina Cities ATLANTA - BellSouth Mobility DCS announced today that it will expand its digital PCS (Personal Communications Services) network to include Augusta, Brunswick and Savannah in Georgia, as well as Aiken and Hilton Head in South Carolina. The company acquired the 10 megahertz licenses to provide digital wireless services in the Augusta, Brunswick and Savannah BTAs (Basic Trading Areas) in the FCC's recent D- and E-block spectrum auctions. "We are pleased to be able to bring the latest in wireless technology to the more than one million consumers in these cities," said Eric F. Ensor, president of BellSouth Mobility DCS. "The expanded coverage area will also benefit our existing customers in the Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee by increasing the already large regional service area where they pay a low per minute rate for all calls." BellSouth Mobility DCS launched its PCS network in July 1996 in the Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee MTAs (Major Trading Areas) - an area of more than 12 million people -- and currently has more than 70,000 customers. The company's network uses a wireless technology known as GSM -- Global Systems for Mobile communication -- a proven, worldwide standard in digital technology used by more than 30 million customers in more than 110 countries. The completely digital technology provides customers mobile communications with better clarity and less static than existing analog cellular systems, as well as sophisticated encryption for more secure conversations, automatic Caller Line ID, and built-in paging and text messaging capability. "Our customers have reacted extremely positively to the enhanced features and capabilities we can offer with GSM technology," added Ensor. "We will be able to build our network and begin offering this advanced service in these new markets very quickly." Antenna site selection and construction will begin immediately and some markets are expected to be operational by late 1997. BellSouth Mobility DCS is a subsidiary of BellSouth Corporation, the world's wireless leader. The company operates a digital communications network in the Carolinas with partners DukeNet, a subsidiary of Duke Power; CaroNet, a subsidiary of Carolina Power & Light; Cook Inlet PCS, Inc.; and 30 independent telephone companies; and in Eastern Tennessee. BellSouth Corporation is a $17.9 billion communications company providing telecommunications, wireless communications, directory advertising and publishing, video, Internet and information services to more than 27 million customers in 18 countries worldwide. -------------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ From: Mike King Subject: New Policy Document Online Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 22:52:11 PST ----- Forwarded Message ----- Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 18:18:04 -0500 (EST) From: BellSouth Subject: New Policy Document The BellSouth Public Policy Page now has a new component: A "Myths vs Facts" chapter that effectively dispels each of the made-up charges being leveled by the long-distance oligopoly at America's local telephone companies, operators of the world's best telecommunications networks. Read it for the truth about "access charges" and how they've managed to help keep local phone service affordable for 95 percent of American households. http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/issues/myth.html ----------- Mike King * Oakland, CA, USA * mk@wco.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 09:17:19 -0800 From: sheppard@dtiinc.com (Charles Sheppherd) Subject: Destiny Telecomm Update From NC Agreement was signed on Jan 23 1997 between NC AG office and Destiny Telecomm for it to do business in this state. Please check also with MI. WE like to read your information, but at least keep it up to date. When I read something that I know is not complete, I often wonder how much there information may not be complete. We are alive and well in NC and just thought you needed to know, if you care. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I like to be fair and try to give coverage when possible about firms which are/were under investigation but still in business. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 13:18:59 EST From: Pete Simpson Subject: NCS and GETS - Area Code 710? Hi Pat -- Don't know if you have seen the National Communications System (NCS) homepage at www.ncs.gov, but it's worth a look. Particularly the page , which describes the Government Emergency Telephone System, accessable through a "universal access number" from "a standard desk set, STU-III, facsimile, modem, or cellular phone". "Once the caller has been authenticated as a valid user, the call is identified as an NS/EP call and receives enhanced routing and priority treatment." Access is controlled by PIN. Sounds an awful lot like what people have been getting when they dial the "mysterious" area code 710. Not proof, certainly, but a reasonable explanation, I think. Regards, Peter Simpson, KA1AXY Linux! Peter_Simpson@3mail.3com.com 3Com Corporation The free Unix (508) 229-1531 voice Southborough, MA 01772 for the 386 (508) 460-8952 fax ------------------------------ From: Steve McDonald Subject: Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Date: 15 Mar 97 15:32:40 GMT Michael J Kuras wrote in article ... > 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! Bell Canada or "The New Bell" as they call themself's have such a scheme. If the line is busy a message says a similar message at the end of the message. It says it costs 50 cents a call, but by the time people press the option they would have been charged without hearing the 50 cent per call charge. I have told Bell to remove ALL Pay-per-call options from my line, and have had no problems. I also have been told since I have requested all pay-per-calls options to be removed from my lines any new options will not appear unless I request it. Now in Canada we have great long distance savings plans. Companies like ACC offer 35% of all calls anywhere anytime. ATT offers 25% anytime anywhere without a minimum. And Sprint Canada rates are cheaper than Sprint US. We can call anywhere in Canada for CDN $0.15 and the US for CDN $0.22 anytime of day. This is cheaper than the US $0.15 if you calculate foreign exchange rates. ------------------------------ From: grumpy@en.com (Seymour Dupa) Subject: Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Date: 15 Mar 1997 18:15:24 GMT Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc. In comp.dcom.telecom Michael J Kuras wrote: [snip] > Is NYNEX *so* incompetant ... Seems you've answered your own question. ------------------------------ From: lwinson@bbs.cpcn.com (Lee Winson) Subject: Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Date: 16 Mar 1997 20:14:37 GMT Organization: The PACSIBM SIG BBS I suspect leaving the audio message on busy signals is not a repair service issue, but rather an administrative/management issue. They're obviously doing it to pitch the new service, so people will spend 50c. Somebody in the Marketing/Advertising Department dreamed this up to sell. I suspect the approval of the marketing people will be necessary before the audio recording is pulled. Chalk up another to competition and money making. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 19:13:35 -0500 From: mkuras@ccs.neu.edu (Michael J. Kuras) Subject: Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Organization: College of Computer Science, Northeastern University > 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! (To the Canadian readers who suggested I try *02, it doesn't work in NYNEX-land. Thanks anyway.) Update: after four days of no repair and unresponsive customer service, I finally complained enough to get a hold of a NYNEX manager. Despite the claims of the six other operators to which I've spoken who said they've been inundated with complaints about this "feature", and that the repair department is completely swamped with orders to turn it off, this manager said she'd never heard about it before. It's not a problem, according to her. Furthermore, she swears that it is *impossible* to block this feature from my line. Every NYNEX user will get this feature and there's nothing that can be done to stop it. No *xx code, no CO blocking, nothing. My modem's redial feature is useless. I now have to sit there and manually redial until I connect. This completely unacceptable. Is NYNEX correct in claiming that this feature is impossible to block? What courses of action are available to me? Keep calling customer service? The PUC? Mercenaries? There must be something that can be done. michael j kuras www.ccs.neu.edu/home/mkuras mkuras@ccs.neu.edu ------------------------------ From: Nicholas Marino Subject: Re: NYNEX's *Latest* Blunder Date: 17 Mar 1997 03:27:24 GMT My pet peeve with my local phone co., Bell Atlantic, and probably a lot of others, is the hard sell you get when you dial information and are asked if you would like them to connect you for 65 cents. Unless you agree to spend an additional 65 cents for the call, you have to keep the phone on-hook for at least 5 seconds before you can make another call. I don't know about you, but when I'm trying to remember a phone number, every second counts! I have had to re-dial information (after getting a pen and paper this time) to get the number again. These services are BIG MONEY to the local phone companies. Hey -- aren't they restricted from being in the information business? ------------------------------ From: Bill Turner Subject: Re: Another 800 Pay Number Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 10:03:28 -0500 Organization: Amateur Radio Station WB4ALM Reply-To: wb4alm@gte.net I have no sympathy for Mr. Eschelbach. I used to use AOL as an E-mail address, and I cannot recall a single place that you could find the 800 number that did not also identify the per hour charge for using it. I take exception to the generalized statement of "But with AOL subscribers, it is hard to tell how their minds function sometimes." Many people on AOL are there because it provides access to information needed that is -NOT- provided elsewhere. But I do agree with the statement in context to Mr. Eschelbach. With a small question on the use of the phrase "mind function". This assumes his mind CAN function. /s/ Bill Turner, wb4alm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, you are correct about certain features on AOL not being available elsewhere. They have lots of Business Opportunity spams/scams, chain letters to help you Make Money Fast, and FBI agents posing as very cute young boys trying to get into your (and each other's) pants among other things. They have employees who steal customer credit card numbers; they have an endless supply of crackers on line at all hours. Ah, and of course! How could I almost forget: they have their Terms of Service and Guides who are always willing to throw their weight around and show you who is boss. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bernhold@npac.syr.edu (David E. Bernholdt) Subject: Re: Another 800 Pay Number Date: 15 Mar 1997 22:57:16 GMT Organization: NPAC, Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, NY, USA In article , Col. G.L. Sicherman wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Here again, you *are* getting the call > for 'free' where telco is concerned; the charges are being paid by the > recipient of the call; in this case AOL. The online service is charging > the cost to the caller. Indeed, my ISP, which also happens to be a small long distance company, has an 800 number for which they charge $6/hr. I consider this quite a reasonable way to access the Internet when I'm on the road, as the other alternatives are to charge the long distance call to my calling card or to the hotel room, both of which cost far more than ten cents per minute. More interestingly, this ISP also has an 800 number for which they do _not_ charge which they use to offer service as a "local" call in some areas where they don't have a large enough customer base to install a full POP. This is how I'm logged on right now. When I realized they would be providing my local service that way, I had a very careful conversation with the manager of the service to be sure it was not the for-fee 800 number. Of course I'm an honest guy and have no wish to abuse their service or give them reason to discontinue either form of 800-number access, I have not tried to use the "local access" number when I'm on the road. And I'm smart enough not to use the "long distance access" number when I'm at home :-) David E. Bernholdt | Email: bernhold@npac.syr.edu Northeast Parallel Architectures Center | Phone: +1 315 443 3857 111 College Place, Syracuse University | Fax: +1 315 443 1973 Syracuse, NY 13244-4100 | URL: http://www.npac.syr.edu [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They would be better off offering just the one single 800 number, and then rebating or crediting the charges for use of it to selected customers who had no other choice. As it is, they have to hope that honest customers like yourself will not abuse the 'local access' number. PAT] ------------------------------ From: kamlet@infinet.com (Art Kamlet) Subject: Re: Answer Supervision (was Re: 1-800-COMP-USA and Call Waiting) Date: 16 Mar 1997 13:00:46 -0500 Organization: InfiNet Reply-To: kamlet@infinet.com In article , Mark J. Cuccia wrote: > But "True Messages" has been troublesome in > auto-intercept-with-number-referral situations from the called-end LEC: > (CALLED-END LEC)- > "The number you have reached, NPA-NXX-XXXX, has been changed. The _new_ > number is" > (audio from called-end LEC disable by AT&T)- > "Your party hasn't answered, and AT&T is still trying to complete your > call. Would you like to leave a message?"... I'm not sure I understand the complete scenario. Are you saying the 800 number had been translated by AT&T's SCP into some destination number which has been changed? If so, there is a sync problem between the AT&T SCP database and the LEC providing the local service. These things ned to be synced properly. But telling the caller what the old and new destination numbers are won't get the problem fixed, nor will it get the caller to the SCP where "Press 1 now" choices can be made to, perhaps, route elsewhere. If the person who subscribes to this particular 800 number tries calling and keeps getting "trting to complete your call" messages, he wil be on AT&T in an instant, and doesn't AT&T measure these ineffective attempts anyway, and try to resolve them even if the 800 subscriber hasn't yet complained? As a general rule I think it is not necessarily good for callers to know the destination number to which a particular 800 number gets routed, and that could change from minute to minute anyway, and for 900 number calls it would positively bankrupt the 900 provider if the numbers were dialable. Art Kamlet Columbus, Ohio kamlet@infinet.com ------------------------------ From: grumpy@en.com (Seymour Dupa) Subject: Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line Date: 15 Mar 1997 18:13:17 GMT Organization: Exchange Network Services, Inc. In the early 1960's, dialing an unused Ameritech exchange would return a 'vacant code' tone. We nick-named it 'huey tone', because it was raspy and went from low to high to low. There must have been a problem with it one time, because when I dialed a vacant code, I could barley hear the tone, but a lot of kids were on this 'party line'. We could sit and chat for hours (or just listen), with people comming and going. As with all good things in life, this too came to an end. Someone must have reported it, because one day the tone was working and we couldn't talk over it anymore. On another note, this brings to mind 'tie lines'. These were numbers that would answer when called, and seem to do nothing (go dead). They must have had the busy detect line disconnected, so everyone got connected to it instesd of getting a busy signal. It was long distance to call from A to C, but a local call from A to B, and B to C. A tie line number in B was found. Arrangements were made for a person in A and another in C to call the number in B at a given time. They got 'tied' together and talked at a local rate. John ------------------------------ From: kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com (Anthony S. Pelliccio) Subject: Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line Date: 15 Mar 1997 17:06:30 -0500 Organization: Ideamation, Inc. In article , Lee Winson wrote: > I suspect such "common talk lines" were an accident fault in the > switching office which allowed significant crosstalk to filter around, > allowing a conversation to be had. Sometimes it was from an intercept > recording to fail to come on. Sometimes it was a line that should've > been routed to intercept but wasn't. Perhaps it was an equipment > failure that merely hung a call when certain digits were dialed. For some reason I've always been under the impression that common signaling such as ringing and busy signals are/were provided via a signal generator. That crosstalk might have just been the fact that callers were being dumped onto the same port when it tripped to busy or intercept. > When this happened and people got "hung in space", kids would figure out > the dialing sequence and start using it. Word would spread until the > problem was traced and fixed, at least until another one would crop up. In North Providence, RI parts of the town were served by the PAwtucket (722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728 and 729) exchanges which was a major griping point because the midsection on town used 353 and 354 which was local calling through most of the state while the PA exchanges charged toll for anything past a limited point. In any case, by dialing an invalid number you'd get dumped to the siren on the #5xbar and after it timed out you'd be able to talk to other folks who knew of this interesting feature. Alas, that all ended when they cut to the #5ess which had it's share of problems initially. Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR kd1nr@anomaly.ideamation.com Boston has the combat zone, Providence *IS* an erogenous zone. ------------------------------ From: bbergman@westworld.NOSPAM.com (Bruce Bergman) Subject: Re: Nostalgia For "Beep" Line Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 01:57:51 GMT Reply-To: bbergman@westworld.NOSPAM.com Yes, I have done this and when I was working at C.O.E. Construction in the '80s -- the waning days of AE Steppers at GTE, and Maintenance found connector banks tied up by people doing this, I got assigned the job of installing series capacitor networks to split the busytone feeds into five seperate feeds per shelf. After retrofitting, you could only talk between the two connectors on that capacitor, which reduced the odds of a conversation greatly. As people would do this, there were many connector banks where six or seven of the connectors would be tied up trying to talk over the busy, and at ten connectors per 100 line residential connector bank, it would lock up the whole bank. People would get dumped to 'reorder' (fast busy) after the fifth digit dialed, as the fifth selector could not find an available connector. It only got worse when they discovered business hunting banks had 15 to 30 (some large level-hunting banks had 60) connectors per 100 lines. This wasn't much of a problem in the late evening, but during business hours was another story entirely! Sorry to say that it can't be done anymore, as most tones now are generated on your line card at the switch. And most older equipment such as colleges with electromechanical PBX's either have been changed to electronic or have been retrofitted, because when people do this it ties up the lines for legitimate users. **** NEW .SIG - ALTERED RETURN ADDRESS - READ!! **** Bruce Bergman, P. O. Box 394, Woodland Hills CA. 91365-0394 (USA) NOTICE : Address Altered to Avoid Spammers - remove the NOSPAM WARNING: No Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail. Send it and your account is toast. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #68 *****************************