Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id CAA29469; Tue, 27 Jan 1998 02:23:31 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 02:23:31 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199801270723.CAA29469@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V18 #19 TELECOM Digest Tue, 27 Jan 98 02:23:00 EST Volume 18 : Issue 19 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Snow Job (Adam Gaffin) Book Review: "Not Just JAVA", Peter van der Linden (Rob Slade) FCC Disappointed In Appeals Court Ruling On Telecom Pricing (Monty Solomon) Telco Says No Copper Anywhere? (ian@worldnet.att.net) Notes From Talk by Ed Kozel, CTO of Cisco (Anthony Argyriou) Billing & Collections, Bell Atlantic Forgets AT&T Charges (Robert Perillo) 1-800-COLLECT's Espanol Counterpart (Linc Madison) Signaling Types (was Re: What was SS6, SS5, etc...)(Mark J. Cuccia) Book Review: "Netizens", Michael Hauben/Ronda Hauben (Rob Slade) 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: * telecom-request@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 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. 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: Adam Gaffin Subject: Telecom Snow Job Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 13:05:01 -0500 Organization: Network World Fusion Reply-To: agaffin@nww.com In a special report this week, {Network World} Senior Editor David Rohde takes a look at the proliferation of groups purporting to represent corporate and consumer telecommunications users and finds that many are little more than fronts for phone companies. You can read his complete report at: http://www.nwfusion.com/news/0126snow.html If you haven't used NWFusion before, you'll have to register first, but it's free. Here's the beginning of his piece: Washington - Last October, the Federal Communications Commission received a 40-page legal briefing with three appendices from a group calling itself the Ad Hoc Coalition of Corporate Telecommunications Service Managers and Telecommunications Manufacturing Companies. The coalition, on behalf of signed users, urged the commission to approve BellSouth Corp.'s hotly debated application to enter the long-distance market in South Carolina. The group said it was certain that doing so would give users another option for long-distance service and force recalcitrant long-distance carriers to finally start competing for local business. There was just one problem: None of the users were in South Carolina. The brief was written by Washington, D.C., communications lawyer Rodney Joyce, but the users contacted by Network World said they never paid Joyce to write the brief. Instead, they said Joyce contacted them to cosign what they thought was an objective statement to the FCC on increasing competition in telecommunications. Who paid for the brief? Joyce's client: BellSouth. Welcome to Washington, D.C., where the 2-year-old Telecommunications Act of 1996 is falling apart and two groups of warring carriers have desperately sought to marshal a confused public to their way of thinking with ''user groups'' that produce surveys, filings and studies proving it is the other guy's fault. Adam Gaffin Online Editor, Network World agaffin@nww.com / (508) 820-7433 ------------------------------ From: rslade@sprint.ca (Rob Slade) Subject: Book Review: "Not Just JAVA", Peter van der Linden Date: 26 Jan 1998 16:14:04 GMT Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Security BKNTJSJV.RVW 970816 "Not Just JAVA", Peter van der Linden, 1997, 0-13-864638-4, U$34.95/C$48.95 %A Peter van der Linden pvdl@best.com %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-864638-4 %I Prentice Hall %O U$34.95/C$48.95 800-576-3800, 416-293-3621 %O betsy_carey@prenhall.com %P 313 %S Java Series %T "Not Just JAVA" This book is not just about Java--and it is definitely not just for techies. The text provides a solid overview; not technically detailed, but technically very informed; of the major technologies driving the recent growth in networking and internetworking. Chapter one gives the impression of a basic Internet guide, albeit one that is rather more analytical than most. The second chapter reinforces the impression with a fairly detailed precis of the World Wide Web. Chapters three to six, though, explain various aspects of Java, itself, and its application. The last three chapters organize a number of important technologies such as client/server, intranets, network computers, enterprise computing, COM (Component Object Model), ActiveX (including a solid discussion of the security flaws), CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), JDBC (Java Data Base Connectivity), and a review of the major players in the industry. The content is informed, but aimed at a general, rather than a technical, audience. The material is solid, as well as containing interesting snippets of trivia and gossip. And with the author's humour sprinkled throughout, the book is a lot more fun than most. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKNTJSJV.RVW 970816 rslade@sprint.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca robertslade@usa.net The email service of Sprint Canada is unreliable. If you do not receive a reply, copy rslade@vcn.bc.ca and robertslade@usa.net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 22:34:02 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FCC Disappointed In Appeals Court Ruling On Telecom Pricing FCC Disappointed In Appeals Court Ruling On Telecom Pricing (01/23/98; 4:59 p.m. EST) By Mary Mosquera, TechWeb FCC Chairman William Kennard bemoaned further erosion of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in a St. Louis federal appeals court ruling Friday that upheld the right of states to set local Bell prices. "I am disappointed that two years after the Telecommuni- cations Act, yet another court decision will delay the benefits of competition for the American public," Kennard said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis upheld on Thursday a previous court order that states have the authority to set prices for regional Bell competitors that enter the local phone market. The FCC had tried to set discount prices for competitors coming into the local market because the government believed the Bells would charge them high rates to hook into their lines. "The FCC's justification of its reassertion of local pricing authority lacks even the scent of merit," the court ruling said. The ruling did not offer new ammunition to regional Bells but added impetus to the Bells' campaign to hold onto the monopoly in local markets. Last month, a federal court in Texas struck down parts of the landmark telecom act that said Baby Bells cannot enter the $80 billion long distance market until they can prove to the FCC that they have opened their local markets. Additionally, the Supreme Court is expected to decide Monday whether to hear an appeal of a group of rulings also to do with local pricing. "The FCC's declaration of pricing authority imposed an obstacle to competition," said Mark Roellig, a spokesman for regional Bell, U S West Communications. "We're ready to compete." ------------------------------ From: Ian Subject: Telco Says No Copper Anywhere? Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 13:37:04 -0800 Organization: AT&T WorldNet Services We have four sites in Seattle where we are trying to get frame-relay service installed. US West is the telco here. Of the four sites, one is in the core area of the city, where there might be alternate options available as far as outside plant goes, but the rest are not. All the locations are stand-alone buildings wholly occupied by our offices. According to US West, there is no copper available at any of the sites, even the one in the core of the city. How can this be? I can see where there might be some transitory shortage in one or two locations, but all four? We're now being given the usual runaround about it taking 3-12 months before service can be installed. Are we out of options here? Reply in the newsgroup please as my address has been de-spammed. ------------------------------ From: anthony@alphageo.com (Anthony Argyriou) Subject: Notes From Talk by Ed Kozel, CTO of Cisco Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 17:23:47 GMT Organization: Alpha Geotechnical Reply-To: anthony@alphageo.com I was at NetTech 98, a small conference in South San Francisco, held this past Wednesday. The first Keynote speaker was Edward Kozel, CTO and SVP of Business Development for Cisco systems. A few interesting comments he made: Nationally, data traffic will outpace voice traffic on the PSTN by about 2002. In California, we're already there! Cisco (and others) are working on technology which will allow sending of different colors (wavelengths) of light down fiber-optic cable. They're up to 16 colors already, and expect to have 80 colors within a year or so. Upgrade the switches, and capacity problems on the fiber optic network go away, for a while. This technology is called WDM, but I don't remember what that stood for. Kozel expects that within 5 years, PacBell will offer its larger business customers voice service for FREE. They'll make their money on data transmission services. He expects that will spread to other areas and smaller customers over time. Until recently, Cisco had a rough balance between bits in and bits out. They have recently become a net consumer of data bits. The change is primarily in entertainment video. The result is much happier engineers. (said sarcastically) Anthony Argyriou http://www.alphageo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 98 09:26 EST From: Perillo@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (Robert J. Perillo) Subject: Billing & Collections, Bell Atlantic Forgets AT&T Charges Bell Atlantic Corp. failed to bill approximately 400,000 AT&T customers in parts of Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and West Virginia for their long-distance calls on their latest telephone bill. AT&T stated that their Operations Support Systems (OSS) provided Bell Atlantic with the correct billing data for the three of the twenty billing cycles, customer's billed on the 2nd, 4-5th, and 7th of the month, and that a Bell Atlantic computer error failed to produce the AT&T portion of the bill. Bell Atlantic has stated that the problem was a "systems glitch", "processing error", and/or "data processing error". The rest of Bell Atlantic's 26 million customers, outside the mid-Atlantic region, on a different billing cycle, or not using AT&T as a long-distance provider, were not affected. Bell Atlantic will include the omitted AT&T long distance calls in affected customer's February phone bills. Special arrangements, including payment extensions, will be made for any customer's who have problems budgeting next month's bill. It is assumed that AT&T which has a Billing and Collections contract with Bell Atlantic, will receive refunds and penalty payments because of the error? This information comes from an AT&T press release, dated 16-Jan-1998, reprinted in most local papers, such as the {Richmond Times-Dispatch}, 17-Jan-1998, page C10. Bell Atlantic Customer Service Representatives seem to know very little about the problem? Bell Atlantic has not reported the details of the problem to the National Telecommunications Clearinghouse dealing with Computer Reliability and Security, which they are supposed to do, so that these type of technical problems can be corrected and prevented by the industry in the future. If anybody knows the specific technical details of what happened, please post them here and/or send them to me? Supposedly, computer tapes were used to transfer the billing details between AT&T and Bell Atlantic. Why is 1960's technology being used? Why aren't the billing details transmitted electronically over a communications/computer network between the two companies in Electronic Message Interexchange (EMI) format using a Customer Billing Services System (CBSS)? Operations Support Systems (OSS), which controls ordering, service provisioning, administration, billing and collections, for telecommunications services are becoming more complicated and critical in this age of telecommunications de-regulation. Risks of Slamming (unauthorized change of service provider), Cramming (unexplained, unclear, or invalid charges on the bill), Fraud, and billing inaccuracies (15-23%) are directly controlled by the OSS. OSS software and equipment must have open systems architecture, standardized interfaces, high quality, reliability, and security. Long Distance companies are forced to use the Regional Holding Companies (RHC's) for Billing and Collections (B&C). AT&T has had problems with Bell Atlantic in the mid-Atlantic region because Bell Atlantic has disconnected service of customer's for non-payment of AT&T long-distance charges, in cases involving disputed charges, where AT&T believed the disconnection was unwarranted. Most customer's (90%) want single statement billing for all their telecommunications and information services. Why should B&C be done solely by the RHC's? Most of my monthly phone bill is made up of long-distance charges. Why can't B&C be done by the long-distance companies, other telecommunication service provders, or third parties? Instead of being billed by the local telephone company for your phone bill, you would be billed by the long distance company who would also collect the money for local service. Competition and standardization should be mandated for the B&C business. Robert J. Perillo, CCP, CNE Perillo@dockmaster.ncsc.mil Principal Telecommunications Engineer Richmond, VA ------------------------------ Reply-To: "LINCS Area Code Information" From: Linc Madison Subject: 1-800-COLLECT's Espanol Counterpart Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:21:49 -0500 It seems that telecom companies are now branching out across the language barrier in search of new prey. MCI's 1-800-COLLECT now has a Spanish-speaking counterpart, in the form of a catchy 30-second musical commercial. It features 1-800-2 26-27-27, and apparently features 'special' domestic collect rates, as well as collect rates to Mexico, and other parts of Latin America. Of course the rates aren't mentioned, just the catchy tune & number combination, along with the "1-800-226-2727 COLLECT" logo. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 14:57:12 -0600 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Signaling Types (was Re: What was SS6, SS5, etc...) Nathan Duehr wrote: > I've got a nagging question. If we have Signalling System 7, what > were SS6, SS5, SS4, etc? Were there ever such standards? Were they > just inband T1 signalling in some cases, or what? I'm just a young'un, > so someone fill me in! Prior to SS7, in the US/NANP, there was CCIS, Common Channel Interoffice Signaling. It was similar to the ITU's CCITT #6 signalling. (CCITT _was_ the abbreviation for the Telephone and Telegraph standards division at the ITU). Just like SS7, CCITT #6 (used on overseas/international trunks) and AT&T/Bell's CCIS was out-of-(voice)-band method of signaling, using digital data signaling links and nodes, and could be used to access databases for billing purposes (calling cards and billed number screening), routing/translations controls and updates, etc. But SS7 has improved data speed and signaling message flexability. CCIS was used in the US starting in the mid-1970's and continuing through the late 1980's. Prior to CCITT #6 and CCIS, there was CCITT #5 (for overseas and international), and AT&T/Bell domestic MF Keypulsing. Both were inband MF (Multi Frequency) tone signaling, similar to DTMF touchtone signaling, but using a different set of frequencies. The MF pairs were used to indicate the digits dialed, and also could be used to send the calling/billing number as ANI. Both CCITT #5 and AT&T/Bell's domestic (NANP) MF signaling used the very same set of MF pairs for the ten possible decimal digits, and two 'control digits' - 'Kp(1)' and 'St'. But CCITT #5 also added 'Kp-2', 'Code-11', and 'Code-2'. MF frequency pairs for the latter three were used in the NANP for other functions at a later date, such as TSPS to end-office controls, etc. CCITT #5 also sent its digits over international trunks at higher speeds than AT&T/Bell-System MF signaling over NANP/domestic trunks. During the time of MF-address signaling, supervisory signaling was handled by transmitting over the trunks, a single frequency (SF) in the voiceband. This presence or absence of this single frequency indicated the supervisory state of the call or call attempt, or that a vacant trunk was being seized by one end. Use of MF-address and SF-supervisory signaling in the US/NANP was the main method of signaling between switches beginning in the late 1940's through the 1970's and early 80's. It is probably still in use in some areas. Inband MF-address signaling was first introduced experimentally circa 1940 between selected #1XB local end-offices in Baltimore. The tone used SF-supervisory signaling could also be used to indicate dialpulse digits/addresses when signaling to/from/between step-by-step offices, since a dialpulse is a very-short on-hook supervisory state. Other countries, prior to adapting SS7, have had their own domestic signaling standards over the years. Some of them have been called R1, R2, E1, E2, etc. In one of the signaling standards, each digit is sent one at a time, with the far-end sending back a corresponding 'digit received' tone, a differing tone for each digit. On connections between manual operator cord-boards, with absolutely no automated switching between them, signaling is simply an electrical current to light or extinguish a lamp to indicate the supervisory state, or in longer distances, the operator on one end had to manually ring the operator on the other end, to set up or take down a connection. MARK_J._CUCCIA__PHONE/WRITE/WIRE/CABLE:__HOME:__(USA)__Tel:_CHestnut-1-2497 WORK:__mcuccia@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu|4710-Wright-Road|__(+1-504-241-2497) Tel:UNiversity-5-5954(+1-504-865-5954)|New-Orleans-28__|fwds-on-no-answr-to Fax:UNiversity-5-5917(+1-504-865-5917)|Louisiana(70128)|cellular/voicemail- ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 09:59:36 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Netizens", Michael Hauben/Ronda Hauben BKNTIZNS.RVW 970809 "Netizens", Michael Hauben/Ronda Hauben, 1997, 0-8186-7706-6, U$28.95 %A Michael Hauben hauben@columbia.edu netizens@computer.org %A Ronda Hauben rh120@columbia.edu ronda@umcc.umcc.umich.edu %C 10662 Vaqueros Circle, Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1314 %D 1997 %G 0-8186-7706-6 %I IEEE Computer Society Press %O U$28.95 +1-714-821-8380, +1-800-CS-BOOKS fax: +1-714-821-44010 %O cs.books@computer.org c.baltes@computer.org %O http://www.computer.org %P 344 %T "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" This volume is a collection of essays by the two authors, written over the past four years. The papers are grouped into four sections that can be roughly described as present, past, future, and theory. The pieces are heavily endnoted, and provide an extensive bibliographic resource. I find the social aspects of technology even more fascinating than the systems themselves, so I was very eager to read this text. It was a great disappointment. The book is unfocussed and undisciplined. The introduction states that the "goal of this book is to provide needed perspective, to make it possible to understand what impact the Net has had on the present and can have on the future of our society." But it doesn't provide any perspective, just a mass of raw data. The target audience is not defined; netizens will find this material trite, poorly analyzed, and repetitive, while the non-netted will not be able to judge, or in some case, understand, the points being asserted. Much of the content is redundant. There are two general "histories" of the Usenet: one in part one, and another in part two. There are two essays on politics and the net: one in part three, and another in part four. The book is strictly limited to Usenet, on the one hand, while on the other, it includes histories of ARPA, UNIX, and the effect of the printing press. Overall, the writing manages to be quite astonishingly dull. Obviously, the authors have done a tremendous amount of historical research. The references in the book are valuable. But the text, itself, comes off very poorly when compared with "The Internet Systems Handbook" (cf. BKINTSYS.RVW), or Peter Salus' works, "Casting the Net" (cf. BKCSTNET.RVW) and "A Quarter Century of UNIX" (cf. BKQRCNUN.RVW). (None of these books managed to make it into the bibliography.) copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKNTIZNS.RVW 970809 rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca BCVAXLUG Admin Chair http://peavine.com/bcvaxlug/ DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security groups [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ronda Hauben has been a correspondent here for several years, and has shared portions of her book with us as it was being written. I am rather disappointed in the poor review given her work by Rob Slade, and if Ms. Hauben wishes to respond I'll be glad to publish her comments here. PARTAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V18 #19 *****************************