Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA05348; Tue, 22 Apr 1997 02:21:20 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 02:21:20 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199704220621.CAA05348@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #99 TELECOM Digest Tue, 22 Apr 97 02:20:00 EDT Volume 17 : Issue 99 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Denver (303) "Area-code Battle Rings Loud and Here" (Donald M. Heiberg) National Caller ID Ruling (John Cropper) FEX in PaBell Land (John DeBert) Want to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards (John DeBert) Reinventing Canadian Telecom (Ian Angus) Can the Telco Charge Me For This? (John E. Lopez) For Sale: Deeply Discounted LAN Cables and Equipment (lanvis@gate.net) Re: Internet Telephone, Voice Modem Questions (Paul Alesu) Re: Heads Up - FCC Issues 800 Order (Judith Oppenheimer) 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: * subscriptions@telecom-digest.org * 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: 847-727-5427 Fax: 773-539-4630 ** Article submission address: editor@telecom-digest.org ** Our archives are available for your review/research. The URL is: http://telecom-digest.org (WWW/http only!) 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 archives@telecom-digest.org 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: Donald M. Heiberg Subject: Denver (303) "Area-code Battle Rings Loud and Here" Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 14:36:32 -0600 Submitted by Don Heiberg, Denver (303) 589-1539 Newspaper article discusses: Colorado residents asked for help, 1991 overlay in NYC, California, 10 digits Maryland, Pittsburgh on hold, geography no sure cure. Rocky Mountain News, Sunday, April 20, 1997: http://www.denver-rmn.com/business/0420codes.htm Area-code battle rings loud and here It's Denver's turn to grapple with problem of finding numbers for new phone lines. By Rebecca Cantwell=20 Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer Metro Denver can't hang up on the experience that's bedeviled cities across the nation: adding a telephone area code. Three little digits have sparked passion and legal fights as codes have proliferated with explosive phone growth. Dividing metro areas into new codes is costly to businesses, which must revise everything from advertising to stationery. The splits also pit communities against one another as they fight to retain the identity an area code represents. Seeking to avoid drawing such lines, some regulators have proposed "overlays'' -- adding an area code to the same territory and requiring only new customers to change. An overlay is being considered in Denver. But the idea has generated such heat that it exists only one place in the United States -- and under rules later banned. State regulators in 1991 decided to add a new area code to overlay New York City, but assigned only cellular phones and pagers to the new code. When Ameritech tried to do the same thing in Chicago, the cell-phone industry objected, claiming an overlay would discriminate against it. The Federal Communications Commission agreed and later ruled that no overlay can be imposed on any single kind of customer. Residents asked for help In Colorado, state regulators will ask residents to help decide whether an overlay is best. It's the official recommendation made by the state's "numbering plan administrator.'' At town meetings in 10 communities starting next week throughout the crowded 303 area code, state Public Utilities Commission staffers have invited telephone customers to comment on three proposals: split 303 and add either one or two new codes, or put an overlay for new customers on top of the current terrain. The commissioners expect to make a decision by July, with a new area code needed by the middle of 1998. The overlay means no one would have to change numbers but most new numbers would have a new area code. All local calls would have to be 10 digits, even those across the street. But the local calling area, where no long-distance charges apply, would not change. The numbering plan administrator, Jack Ott, is a US West employee and the local phone giant backs the overlay. Although Ott is charged with making an objective recommendation, competitors fear the overlay would harm them and benefit US West. Other states have wallowed in similar controversies over overlays. California debated the issue in 1995 when Pacific Bell proposed an overlay because the Los Angeles area's 310 was running out of numbers. The idea was rejected then, and a year later the California Public Utilities Commission made an even more emphatic ruling. The regulators declared they will consider no overlays until 2000. Their major reason involved the time frame for "local number portability.'' That's the federal requirement for customers to be able to take their phone numbers with them in a local area when they switch companies. Once it's in place, switching phone companies won't mean switching area codes. But until then, California regulators feared that an overlay would leave competitors to Pacific Bell with most of the new area-code numbers. "Competitors and consumer groups were against the institution of an overlay,'' said California commission spokesman Jose Jimenez. "We still don't know when permanent number portability will be available. The commission was concerned the potential is there for wrecking the competitive situation.'' In metro Denver, permanent number portability is supposed to start next year, about the same time as a new area code. Part of Ott's recommendation for an overlay would give remaining 303 numbers to competitors during the transition. Dial 10 digits in Maryland Maryland overcame objections to an overlay and is going ahead with two new area codes on top of its existing two. On May 1, the state will become the first in the country mandating 10-digit calling for local calls. The new codes will be added later this year when numbers run out for 301 and 410. A big public education push has preceded the switch. Bell Atlantic has distributed more than 300,000 "Phone Fun!'' coloring books to classrooms to educate the smallest consumers. Ads have run for a year, including the slogan "All hail the 10-number Number!'' To practice the three extra numbers for local calls, Maryland residents have also had the option of dialing 10 digits for the past year. Maryland had two main reasons for choosing an overlay, said Steve Molnar, director of telecommunications for the Maryland Public Service Commission. 'It's basically cheaper than doing a split,'' he said. "And the commission thought it would be less confusing and less disruptive for the public. Our experiences were that people really didn't like getting a new area code.'' Pittsburgh was to be the first city to launch a full overlay May 1. But that plan is on hold. By a 3-2 vote, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ordered the overlay last year. But commissioners wanted to circumvent the sore point of 10-digit dialing. The Federal Communications Commission ruled that, where overlays are in place and out of fairness to all phone companies, 10 digits must be used to dial all local calls. Pennsylvania asked for a waiver but was turned down, said John Frazier of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, challenged the overlay in a state appeals court. So did MCI, the long-distance phone company seeking to enter the local Pittsburgh market. Now the whole matter is back in the lap of the Pennsylvania commission. It's only one of the area-code quandaries in that state. The Philadelphia area, split a couple years ago, is in need of another fix. And a portion of central Pennsylvania including Harrisburg is reaching the saturation point, too. One overlay was even overturned after it started. Southwestern Bell assigned about 80,000 Houston numbers to an overlay and was getting ready to do the same thing in Dallas when the chief utility commission lawyer objected. The plan was overturned, and Houston and Dallas were both split, said Ken Branson, spokesman for Bellcore, the consulting company that administers area codes. Geography no sure cure Splitting area codes by geography isn't easy, either. In California, every recent geographic split has yielded painful debates, Jimenez said. Challenges were filed by Chinese-Americans concerned about lucky and unlucky numbers, neighboring communities battling over who keeps the existing code, and cities split into two codes. "Between now and the turn of the century, we'll get 15 new area codes,'' Jimenez said. "We have seen this thing in spades.'' Just leaving codes alone is not an option, Branson said. The hunger for phone lines creates the need. Phone numbers are used to check credit every time people pay a supermarket checker or a waiter and every time people get money from an automated teller machine. And the explosion of computer modems, fax machines, pagers, wireless phones and other uses for phones contines. "We don't see anyone giving up those conveniences -- in fact, the general inclination is to invent more of them,'' Branson said. "As long as that happens, we have to deal with this kind of change.'' ------------------------------ From: John Cropper Subject: National Caller ID Ruling Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 17:04:53 -0400 Organization: lincs.net Reply-To: jcropper@NOSPAM.lincs.net The FCC has basically shot down the concept of nationwide caller-ID services, when docket 91-281 was closed. The following parties will be EXEMPT from passing CID data: Payphones (100% exempt in all cases); LECs that do not, or will not be installing Class software; PBX owners who opt not to contact their LEC and have the info passed (in other words, if a PBX owner doesn't tell their LEC to pass the data, it won't get passed). The FCC has viewed CID as a convenience, rather than a necessity, and is now treating it as such... :) John Cropper, Webmaster voice: 888.NPA.NFO2 Legacy IS, Networking & Comm. Solutions 609.637.9434 P.O. Box 277 fax: 609.637.9430 Pennington, NJ 08534-0277 Unsolicited commercial e-mail is subject mailto:jcropper@lincs.net to a fee as outlined in the agreement at http://www.lincs.net/ http://www.lincs.net/spamoff.htm ------------------------------ From: John DeBert Subject: FEX in PaBell Land Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 09:14:32 -0700 Organization: hypatia.com The postings re FEX for radio stations reminds me: Not too long ago, PaBell was offering something similar to FEX but without the mileage charges. I forget what it's called but it was offered for both business and residential service. I think it cost about $5.00 or so more than regular service. That service was dropped and now PaBell has gone back to the old FEX tariff, charging mileage for a "dedicated" line. Problem is: the line to the foreign exchange is not dedicated solely for one's exclusive use. Never has been since they switched to digital trunking and switches. I wonder how they manage to get away with overcharging for service like that? Actually, it seems like they're charging for something that does not exist. I have FEX for ISDN but that is only until they upgrade the local 5E to handle ISDN, which, they've told me for the past year, is going to be "next month". I am not being charged mileage or any other special charges for it. BTW, Are there any mechanical switches left in PaBell Land? The last one I know of was 408-299. I got to see some of the Strowgers they used in that. It was in service into at least the late '80's, as I recall. onymouse@hypatia.com ------------------------------ From: John DeBert Subject: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 09:20:54 -0700 Organization: hypatia.com I know this is a little off the areas covered by telecom but I have no idea of where else to inquire. There are a lot of people who have read comp.dcom.telecom for quite a long time. I'm hoping that some of the "old-timers" might know where I might find these: I need about 1K to 5K 80-column punch cards. I have some vintage devices, including programmable scientific desktop calculators that use them for input and programming. Does anyone know where I can get some? onymouse@hypatia.com | I've only one thing to Send NO spam | say to spammers: "47USC227". ------------------------------ From: Ian Angus Subject: Reinventing Canadian Telecom Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 09:15:45 -0400 Organization: Angus TeleManagement Group Conference Announcement REINVENTING CANADIAN TELECOM Toronto, April 29-30, 1997 Eaton Centre Marriott Hotel The 14th Annual Communication Strategies Conference, sponsored by Angus TeleManagement Group and the Canadian Business Telecommunications Alliance, will be held in Toronto next week. This year's theme is "Reinventing Canadian Telecom." The full agenda, as well as registration information, may be found at http:// http://www.angustel.ca/educatn/ed-rctd.html Speakers at this year's program include: ** Ian Angus, President, Angus Telemanagement Group ** Lis Angus, Executive Vice-President, Angus Telemanagement Group ** Dan Baldwin, Senior Vice-President, SaskTel ** Maggs Barrett, Executive Vice-President & COO, ACC TelEnterprises Ltd ** Phil Bates, President & CEO, Call-Net Communications Inc. ** Dennis Billard. VP Business Development, Telesat ** Bill Catucci, President & CEO, AT&T Canada Long Distance Services ** David Colville, Vice-Chairman Telecommunications, CRTC ** George Cope, President & CEO, Clearnet Inc ** Patrick Daly, Executive Director, CBTA ** Bill Dunbar, President & CEO, WIC Connexus ** Norine Heselton, Vice-President -- Policy, ITAC ** Eamon Hoey, Senior Partner, Hoey Associates ** Hudson Janisch, Professor-Faculty of Law, University of Toronto ** Michael Kedar, Chairman & CEO, TeleBermuda International Ltd ** Barrie Kirk, Senior Partner, Globis Dimensions Inc ** Charles Labarge, President & COO, Mobility Canada ** Claude Lewis, President, GlobalStar Canada ** Ian McElroy, President, Bell Canada Communications Services ** William Meder, President & CEO, Orbcomm Canada ** James Meenan, President & CEO, AT&T Canada Enterprises ** Gilles Menard, Deputy Director -- Civil Branch, Competition Bureau -- Industry Canada ** Don Morrison, Group Vice-President -- Consumer & Small Business Markets, Bell Canada ** Michael Mullagh, President & COO, Rogers Cantel Inc ** David Parkes, President & CEO, Sprint Canada Inc ** David Pasieka, Vice-President & General Manager, MetroNet Ontario. ** Roger Poirier, President, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications, Association (CWTA) ** Jeff Pulver, Chairman, Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition and President, Pulver.com ** Dave Samuel, President, Rogers WAVE ** Richard Schultz, Professor, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada ** Larry Shaw, DG-Telecom Policy, Industry Canada ** Jan Skora, DG-Radiocommunication & Broadcasting Regulatory Branch, Industry Canada ** Michael Sone, President, NBI/Michael Sone Associates ** William Stanbury, T.D. MacDonald Chair of Industrial Economics, Bureau of Competition Policy ** Carol Stephenson, President & CEO, Stentor Resource Centre Inc ** Guthrie Stewart, Chairman & CEO, Teleglobe Canada Inc. ** Richard Stursberg, President & CEO, CCTA ** Andre Tremblay, President & CEO, Microcell Telecommunications Inc. ** Maureen Tsai, Information and Technology Trade Policy Division, Dept of Foreign Affairs & International Trade ** David Watt, Senior Vice-President, Technology, Economics, & Telecom, Canadian Cable Television Association ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 23:20:12 -0400 From: John E. Lopez Reply-To: je_lopez@nais.com Subject: Can the Telco Charge Me For This? I want to get ISDN. I have NYNEX in Long Island NY. NYNEX charges the customer $75 to upgrade a analog line to ISDN. I paid $85 to have a new analog line put in last month. This month I want to upgrade it to ISDN. NYNEX tested the line and found it just over the 3mi limit and heavily loaded (with taps). To upgrade this line, they want me to pay either $1500 to remove the taps (reduce the load), or pay for a repeater ~$3000. Why should I pay to upgrade NYNEX equipment, to get a service that is offered to others for $75? Can they do this? John ------------------------------ From: lanvis@gate.net Subject: For Sale: Deeply Discounted LAN Cables and Equipment Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 05:21:00 GMT Organization: LANVision Hi all: I have the following excess equipment for sale. All of it is new equipment received as excess inventory. I am willing to sell at less than 50% off. All offers will be considered. You can make an offer for individual pieces or the whole lot!!! ......Thanks Reply to commsource@emi.net or call Andy: 561 362 9966 The following is a list of miscellaneous products for sale: Part # Qty. Description 10290 18 25ft Cat 5 568B Cable 10289 25 10ft Cat 4 568B Cable 10284 44 5ft Cat 4 568B Cable 10283 17 2ft Cat 3 568B Cable 46304 37 25ft 4 Wire RJ11 Crossover Cable 46404 43 25ft 6 Wire RJ11 Crossover Cable 499-1 87 14ft Modular Telephone Cord 10285 50 10ft Cat 3 Stranded Cable 499-0 238 7ft Modular Telephone Cord 46303 56 10ft Twisted Pair RJ11 6 Wire Straight 3253 12 Fiber Optic ST-ST Cable 3275 5 Fiber Optic ST-FDDI 15M Cable 3295 5 Fiber Optic FDDI-FDDI 15M Cable 3254 5 Fiber Optic ST-ST 10M Cable 3284 4 Fiber Optic FDDI-FDDI 10M Cable 3282 6 Fiber Optic FDDI-FDDI 3M Cable 3283 3 Fiber Optic FDDI-FDDI 5M Cable 19214 1 Fiber Optic ST-SC 5M Cable 3273 14 Fiber Optic ST-FDDI 5M Cable 3263 10 Fiber Optic ST-FDDI 10M Cable 3242 29 Fiber Optic ST-ST 10M ECR0200 4 LANart 802.3 2x2 Mini Repeater, BNC/AUI EFH0400 3 4 Port 10Base-FL Fiber Optic Hub EFH0800 1 8 Port 10Base-FL Fiber Optic Hub FLM-1 1 TDM-Asyncronous HPF1011A 6 AC/DC Adapter AT-MX10S 8 Centre COM MicroTransvr. 10Base 2 MAU AT-36C1 1 Mounting Bracket AT-210T 2 CentreCom,Twisted pr. Transvr. 10Base T(MAU) EFT1101 17 Fiber Optic Transvr. w/ST TE-1420 2 TRENDnet 12 Port Hub TE900/910 1 TRENDnet 10Base T Hub 8 Port DE-1400-45 1 24 Port Hub Managed PCLA8110 2 Intel Ether Express LAN Adapter AT2000 4 Allied Telesys EtherNet Adapter Card ATMR12F11 2 Allied Telesys Fiber Optic Micro Repeater 4 AccuLogic Side 3/Plus, IDE Controller Card 32TP 1 Racal 32 Port 10Base T Hub ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 19:13:57 CDT From: rpales@ix.netcom.com (Paul Alesu) Subject: Re: Internet Telephone, Voice Modem Questions Paul L. Hudson wrote: > I have a bit of a problem. I recently bought two computers, one for > myself, and one for my parents to use. One computer is a 5x86 with 12 > meg 120 Mhtz, and a 380mb HD. The other machine is an old 486SX at 25 > Mhtz with 4meg and an 80 meg HD. I have a soundblaster 16 for the nice > machine, but no sound card for the SX > I know there are a lot of software packages out there to allow > people to use the internet as a telephone. I am planning on working > overseas, and I want to set myself and my parents up on the internet > so we can talk to each other whenever we want to, and so that I can > save myself and my parents money on phone bills. I have been told > about two options: ....... > If anyone knows if one can use a voice modem to communicate with a > machine of such low performance, and knows the software available to > do this, please email me. Also, if you know what can be done to the > SX for less than $100 to allow voice transmission, please tell me. > I would like full duplex transmission, though I would settle for half > duplex on the slow machine if it means keeping the price low. First of all. let me clear a bit the notion "voice modems". A modem is called "voice modem" if it is able to transmit to the computer and receive from the computer, data which represents digital samples of the analog signal on the phone line. Actually it has nothing to do with the "modem" functionality - like MODulate and DEModulate. The computer running software may take these samples and store them on the hard disk or may route them to the sound card. Usually a modem with voice capabilities is used as a telephone answering machine and some times as a full duplex speakerphone. If a modem would have only voice capabilities, it would be useless for connecting to Internet. To summarize, for a voice modem the signal goes like this: analog signal on the phone line, digital samples to/from the computer, digital samples on the hard disk file or analog signal to/from the sound card codec. Please note that the digital samples do not travel outside your computer and modem. For Internet telephony, one needs only a regular data modem. However, it is better if it is a high speed modem. During an Internet telephone conversation the signal goes like this: analog signal to/from your own sound card codec, digital samples between your computer and your data modem, modulated signal between your modem and your Internet service provider's modem, digital samples between your Internet service provider and the Internet service provider of the person you speak with, modulated signal between the far end Internet service provider and the far end modem, digital samples between the far end modem and the far end computer and finally, analog signal to/from the far end sound card codec. There are out there plenty of Internet phone software. Some of them are for free. About the speed required for Internet phone, I believe that an SX 16 MHz machine may be enough for half duplex while for full duplex may be needed 33 MHz. However this is not all the story. Unfortunately, because this Internet phone idea is fairly new, the software require W31 or W95. The operating system adds an overhead which pushes up the minimum requirement. Ken Levitt wrote: (Subject: Ringer Device/Line Simulator) > I need to find an inexpensive device that works as follows: > Computer-Voice-Board --> Device --> Telephone > Telephone is standard POTS phone. > When Computer-Voice-Board goes off hook, Device provides ring signal > to Telephone and ringing sound to Voice board. If Telephone goes off > hook, ring stops and talk battery voltage is applied to line. If > either the Voice-Board or Telephone goes from off-hook to on-hook, the > line is dropped. > Does such a device exist? Yes! These kind of devices do exist. Here are a couple of companies which manufacture phone line simulators: Processing Telecom Technologies manufactures some expensive phone line simulators, Micro Seven, Inc manufactures some low priced phone line simulators. mlbruss@ucdavis.edu (Michael Bruss) wrote: > I would like to buy/build a gadget that would allow me to call into to > my home on one phone line, then by punching in some DTMF (touch-tone) > codes have a second phone line connect to the first so that I can dial > out on the second. The idea is that I will be coming into the first > line via a ham autopatch (which allows only local calls) but could > dial out long distance on the second line. First of all, one does not need two phone lines. One line with "three way calling" service can do the trick. The scenario is: you call the "gadget", it answers and prompts for a password, you enter it then it asks you wha t number do you want to be dialed, you enter it, the "gadget" flash hooks the line, waits for the dial tone, dials the number and flash hooks the line a second time, when you are through with the call press the star key and the "gadget" goes on hook. That's all you need. Of course there are security problems. Such a "gadget" exists: a voice modem connected to some software can do this with no problem. Of course one can build this gadget fairly easy using one DTMF detector, one DTMF generator, a small microcontroller and the phone line circuitry. If you can sell this device we are ready to build it for you. :-)] > Some weeks ago there were a lot of messages about analog modems and the > digital line protection. What about some inexpensive small device to check a phone line if it is safe for an analog modem? Anybody interested? Paul Alesu Total Design - Analog, Digital, Software Ph: 210-263-0033 Fax: 210-263-0036 Email: paul_td@alesu.com ------------------------------ From: Judith Oppenheimer Subject: Re: Heads Up - FCC Issues 800 Order Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 07:54:17 -0400 Organization: ICB Toll Free News Reply-To: joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com The COMMISSION ESTABLISHES RULES PROMOTING EFFICIENT USE, FAIR DISTRIBUTION OF TOLL FREE NUMBERS. Report No: CC-97-17. by 2nd R&O & FNPRM. Action by: the Commission. Adopted: April 4, 1997. Dkt No.: CC-95-155. (FCC No. 97-123) The document is 80 pages long. In advance of a more thorough ICB analysis of the ruling and its implications, here are the highlights affecting toll-free users. The FCC has interpreted Section 201(b) of the Communications Act to empower the Commission to ensure that toll free numbers, which are a scarce and valuable national public resource, are allocated in an equitable and orderly manner that serves the public interest. 1. Subscriber interests denied. We find that there is a "legitimate governmental interest or rational basis" for declaring that toll free numbers are a public resource. 2. Rebuttal Presumption of Hoarding. Hoarding is defined as a toll free subscriber acquiring more numbers from a RespOrg than it intends to use immediately. Commission asserts the right to question the use of toll free numbers even if subscribers are paying their bills. Routing multiple toll free numbers to a single subscriber will create a rebuttable presumption of hoarding or brokering. Furthermore, There is no way to determine if a subscriber is maintaining an inventory because it may soon have a need for the numbers, or if the subscriber is building a supply of numbers for possible sale, but in either scenario the numbers are unavailable for toll free subscribers that have an immediate need. Telemarketing Service Bureaus appear to be exempt. The language is interesting: We conclude that, to the extent that telemarketing service bureaus are performing legitimate services, and not merely buying and selling numbers, such activity would not be considered "hoarding." Other factors that may be considered if a toll free subscriber is alleged to be hoarding or brokering numbers are the amount of calling of a particular number and the rate at which a particular subscriber changes toll free numbers. 3. Rebuttal Presumption of Warehousing. Similarly, ...if a Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with each toll free number reserved from the database, or if a Responsible Organization does not have an identified, billed toll free subscriber before switching a number from reserved or assigned to working status, then there is a rebuttable presumption that the Responsible Organization is warehousing numbers. Responsible Organizations that warehouse numbers will be subject to penalties. 4. RespOrg Penalties. We conclude that the Commission's exclusive jurisdiction over the portions of the North American Numbering Plan that pertain to the United States, found at 251(e)(1) of the Communications Act, as amended, authorizes the Commission to penalize RespOrgs that warehouse toll free numbers. We may impose a forfeiture penalty under 503(b). In addition, if a person violates a provision of the Communications Act or a rule or regulation issued by the Commission under authority of the Communications Act, the Commission can refer the matter to the Department of Justice to determine whether a fine, imprisonment, or both are warranted under 501 or 502 of the Communications Act. We also may limit any RespOrg's allocation of toll free numbers or possibly decertify it as a RespOrg under 251(e)(1) or 4(i). In addition, RespOrgs that falsely indicate that they have identified subscribers for particular numbers may be liable for false statements under Title 18 of the United States Code. We direct DSMI, and any successor toll free administrator, to monitor reserved numbers that are being automatically recaptured after 45 days and to submit regular reports to the Common Carrier Bureau, indicating which RespOrgs repeatedly reserve toll free numbers without having an identified subscriber. 5. Subscriber Penalties. Toll free subscribers that hoard or broker numbers will be subject to penalties similar to those we will impose for warehousing. The penalties may include, but are not limited to, a forfeiture penalty under 503(b) of the Communications Act. If a subscriber hoards numbers, that subscriber's service provider must terminate toll free service. Judith Oppenheimer wrote: > > FCC ISSUES ORDER RE TOLL FREE ACCESS CODES > > In the Matter of Toll Free Service Access Codes, CC Docket No. 95-155. > > See URL: > http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/1997/fcc97123.txt > > At first glance, reads like over-regulation, anti-competition, and > government imposition. All together now -- can you say imminent > auction? ICB TOLL FREE NEWS - 800/888/global800 news, analysis, advice. http://www.icbtollfree.com, mailto:news-editor@icbtollfree.com Judith Oppenheimer - 800 The Expert, ph 212 684-7210, fx 212 684-2714 mailto:j.oppenheimer@worldnet.att.net, mailto:icb@juno.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #99 *****************************