Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA00276; Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:24:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 09:24:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199801291424.JAA00276@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V18 #23 TELECOM Digest Thu, 29 Jan 98 09:24:00 EST Volume 18 : Issue 23 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book on Privacy in Telecommunications (Jud Wolfskill) Telecom News Service (Judith Oppenheimer) Book Review: "PCS & Digital Cellular Technologies" (Rob Slade) Defeating *67 with Omnipoint (Anthony Argyriou) Callback Service From Mexico (Michael Corbett) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Ron Walter) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Russ Landry) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Fred McClintic) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Keith Brown) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Bill Levant) Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? (Gordon S. Hlavenka) Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and *? (Ron Walter) Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and *? (Richard C. Schoeneck) Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and *? (Linc Madison) 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: Jud Wolfskill Subject: Book on Privacy in Telecommunications Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 16:20:09 +0000 Organization: MIT Press Reply-To: wolfskil@mit.edu The following is a book which readers of this list might find of interest. For more information please visit http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/DIFPHS98 Privacy on the Line The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau Telecommunication has never been perfectly secure, as the Cold War culture of wiretaps and espionage taught us. Yet many of us still take our privacy for granted, even as we become more reliant than ever on telephones, computer networks, and electronic transactions of all kinds. Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau argue that if we are to retain the privacy that characterized face-to-face relationships in the past, we must build the means of protecting that privacy into our communication systems. The development of such protection, however, has been delayed -- and may be prevented -- by powerful elements of society that intercept communications in the name of protecting public safety. Intelligence and law-enforcement agencies see the availability of strong cryptography as a threat to their functions. In fact, the US government has used export control to limit the domestic availability of cryptography, and has made legal attempts to limit encryption to forms that provide a 'back door' for government wiretapping. Diffie and Landau examine national-security, law-enforcement, commercial, and civil-liberties issues. They discuss privacy's social function, how it underlies a democratic society, and what happens when it is lost. They also explore how intelligence and law-enforcement organizations work, how they intercept communications, and how they use what they intercept. Whitfield Diffie, the inventor of public-key cryptography, is Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, Inc. Susan Landau is Research Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. February 1998 352 pp. ISBN 0-262-04167-7 MIT Press * 5 Cambridge Center * Cambridge, MA 02142 * (617) 625-8569 ------------------------------ From: Judith Oppenheimer Subject: Telecom News Service Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 09:09:52 -0500 Organization: ICB TOLL FREE NEWS, Daily News Service of Toll Free Industry Reply-To: joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com CONTACT: Judith Oppenheimer Publisher ICB TOLL FREE NEWS http://www.icbtollfree.com 212 684-7210, 1 800 THE EXPERT WWW SITE RELAUNCH: ICB TOLL FREE NEWS Daily News Service of the Toll Free Industry. New York, NY January 27, 1998. While some people may just not give toll-free telephone numbers a second thought, this web site does. ICB TOLL FREE NEWS is the daily news service of the toll free industry. Updated daily and archived indefinitely, it delivers a digestible mix of 800/888/global800 industry and marketplace news, regulatory reporting, and behind-the-scenes gossip, as well as how-to -- and when to -- advice. ICB subscribers rank among the top decision makers in the toll-free and telecom industries; direct marketing and communications worlds; domestic and international regulatory bodies; trade organizations, and business publications. Headlines are emailed to subscribers daily. Additionally, researchers find ICB's searchable archive, the largest publicly available library of toll-free news and information, an invaluable resource. Marketers, telecom and corporate execs, and attorneys alike, rely on the service. "I'm impressed at the level of coverage ICB brings to our industry ... ," says Saul Wilner, President, 1 800 GRANOLA. "ICB TOLL FREE is an important resource for any organization that depends on 800/888 service," echoes Wayne Sachs, Attorney, Los Angeles. Phil White, Operations Support for Trimark Investment Management in Canada, says, "ICB sorts through an unbelievable pile of telecom information and events and tells me what I need to know in an easily understandable fashion." And Rick Rector, Director Business Development for telemarketing firm New England 800 Company, says, "As a former print publisher myself, I am impressed with the breadth and scope of ICB TOLL FREE NEWS." Of course, the proof is in the pudding. Non-subscribers may trial the service for 15 days FREE, receiving unlimited use of ICB's subscribers-only web pages and daily email headlines for 15 days, at no cost or obligation. Trial service requests can be emailed to trial@icbtollfree.com (include name, title, company and email address), or interested parties can register directly at the site, at http://www.icbtollfree.com. ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 08:23:05 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "PCS & Digital Cellular Technologies", Rifaat A. Dayem Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKPCSDCT.RVW 970817 "PCS & Digital Cellular Technologies", Rifaat A. Dayem, 1997, 0-13-616574-5 %A Rifaat A. Dayem %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 1997 %G 0-13-616574-5 %I Prentice Hall %O 800-576-3800 201-236-7139 fax: 201-236-7131 %O betsy_carey@prenhall.com %P 231 %T "PCS & Digital Cellular Technologies: Assessing Your options" Recently, I was asked to provide more coverage of books dealing with mobile communications, and the emerging technologies therein. I was rather loathe to get deeply into the field, and responded that most such works tended to be dense with equations and studded with graphs of antenna signal strength. Such tomes may be fine for telecommunications engineers, who probably know all of them already, but are less than helpful to the average technical user or manager who needs to gain a general understanding of what is going on and what the issues are. Dayem's book is certainly far from perfect, in that regard, but it is the best general explanation I have seen to date. Written by a knowledgeable and involved participant in the field, it is aimed at the non-specialist audience. The various technologies are explained, and the technical issues and problems are described, usually without recourse to technical arcana. The approaches being taken in different countries and regions are clarified, and a list of manufacturers is given in an appendix. The material is generally readable, practical, and understandable. The technical level, while usually intended for the average reader, is inconsistent. The discussion of propagation and channel fading does get into extensive formulae, although this is mercifully brief. On the other hand, the explanation of CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a complete failure. Both the glossary and index are very short and have serious shortcomings, especially in view of Dayem's tendency to use acronyms long before they are defined. Mistakes such as "Shanon's Theorem" make even the technically literate wonder if they are missing something. Overall, this is a very useful guide to the features, strengths, and weaknesses of the many new and emerging technologies that telecommunications managers are having to face. Dayem does provide a helpful reference to the spate of new offerings coming to market, and to the alphabet soup accompanying them. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKPCSDCT.RVW 970817 ------------------------------ From: anthony@alphageo.com (Anthony Argyriou) Subject: Defeating *67 with Omnipoint Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 17:58:00 GMT Organization: Alpha Geotechnical Reply-To: anthony@alphageo.com A pair of articles in the latest {2600 Magazine} mentions that Omnipoint GSM voicemail obtains caller-id information, EVEN IF BLOCKED. When playing back messages, the voicemail will announce the number used to call. Due to a bug/feature, the voicemail will obtain the number even if the caller uses *67, 1167, or has All Call Blocking. This does not use ANI -- the article mentions an experiment using forwarding to verify this. Therefore, someone could set up a number to be call-forwarded to an Omnipoint voicemail for the purpose of harvesting Caller-ID-blocked numbers. Later in the issue (p55), they list the Omnipoint GSM exchanges: 201-349, -486, -757, -873 215-715, -820, -939 302-898 316-990 516-312 609-334, -505, -510 610-202, -203, -504 717-604 908-338 914-336, -320 917-251, -257, -770, -774, -815, -915, -945 The folks at 2600 mention that the system _may_ not capture out-of-state blocked Caller-ID info, based on some experiments they've performed, and give a guide to recognizing Omnipoint voicemail, if you want to try to avoid it. For more info, go buy the zine. Volume fourteen, Number three. Their subscription dept. is at subs@2600.com. Anthony Argyriou http://www.alphageo.com ------------------------------ From: Michael Corbett Subject: Callback Service From Mexico Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 18:30:51 -0800 I have some friends that are on an extended stay in Mexico. They are having a wonderful time, but Grandma (who did not go) is back in the States pitching a fit. They need a cheap way to make calls from Mexico to the US. Is a callback service the way to go? Any information would be greatly appreciated. I don't get to the Digest nearly as often as I would like, so direct email would also be appreciated. Mike Corbett personal email: mcorbett@halcyon.com Work email: michaelco@bestnet.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 17:33:57 -0600 From: ronw@capcittel.com (Ron Walter) Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? Cliff Scheller wrote: > As you all know "800" inbound calls route to ring on "regular" lines. > Is anyone aware of a device that can inform the recipient whether the > call is arriving as an 800 call or as a call to the regular number? To my understanding, there's no signalling that tells you, when a call comes in, whether it was a toll free number that was routed to your phone, or a call made directly to the phone number. However, what you might try, if it is available from your local telco, is distinctive ringing: You can have two numbers ringing into the same line, with a different ring pattern for each number. The independent telco here in Lincoln NE tells me that is not available on any lines that are in a hunting arrangement, and that the cost here is $5 per month. I'm sure costs and capabilities very from one place to another. Anyway, what you might try is having the 800 number ring to the second number. Then, you can either go by the difference in ringing, or there is a device made by Viking that recognizes the distinction and routes the call to the appropriate device (often used for having a separate fax number without getting an extra line). You could use this and hook into a two line phone, so line one rings if it's local, line two if it's an 800 call. If you have multiple lines, then you might have to go to something like using Direct Inward Dialing, provided your phone system has the capability. Ron Walter ronw@capcittel.com Capitol City Telephone, Lincoln NE ------------------------------ From: Russ Landry Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 21:03:36 -0500 Organization: RoadCall Fleet Communications Reply-To: nospam@gate.net, russ@roadcall.com You might want to check out a service called WorkEasy. They can announce your 800 calls and even add other options like front ending your calls with a voice menu and telling you what selection the caller made. www.workeasy.com Russ Landry russ[at]roadcall[dot]com "Affordable driver tracking and communications" http://www.roadcall.com ------------------------------ From: Fred McClintic Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 14:28:51 -0600 Cliff Scheller wrote: > As you all know "800" inbound calls route to ring on "regular" lines. > Is anyone aware of a device that can inform the recipient whether the > call is arriving as an 800 call or as a call to the regular number? In the standard scenario, there is no way to do it. A ground-start or loop-start line will always ring in the same way (voltage-wise), regardless of how the call got started. I don't know of any CLASS services for this function, and don't see how there could be, as the ANI II digits aren't sent from the IXC to the LEC -- only from LEC to IXC (according to my Bellcore docs). Two possible things you might try, neither of which I've actually attempted, and which might not be feasible for you: If you can have the 800-call come in a DID group, you could allocate one DID number to be used for 800-calls only and give that DID # to the IXC. Since they're just translating the number from toll-free to POTS, I don't see any reason why the number couldn't be DID. If you want a regular loop-start line, you might be able to get distinctive ringing for toll-free calls. Your LEC would have to offer two numbers on the same line with different rings (marketed variously as "Smart Ring" by GTE, "Teen Service" by Nortel, etc), then you could try having the IXC direct the toll-free number to the distinctive-ring DN for that line. Haven't tried either of those in practice, but it's food-for-thought. Fred McClintic | Proud member, Gateway Chapter Telecom Engineer | International SL-1 Users Assn Diemakers Inc. | http://www.islua.org 573-735-4578 ext 2211 | http://www.crl.com/~gcfstl/islua.html Monroe City, Palmyra, & Hannibal Missouri "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us" - Western Union internal memo, 1876 ------------------------------ From: Keith Brown Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 17:21:21 -0800 Organization: All USENET -- http://www.Supernews.com Cliff: There is a way provided by your local phone company. Get a distinctive ring number and use that number to terminate the 800 number with. That way, all 800 calls will have a distinctive ring to them thus distinguishing the 800 call. Otherwise, a regular caller ID unit will not be able to tell the difference. Keith Brown CallCom International - Long Distance Services "Your one stop source for Telecommunications on the Net" http://www.callcom.com ------------------------------ From: Bill Levant Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 21:00:05 EST Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com) Cliff wrote: > Is anyone aware of a device that can inform the recipient whether the > call is arriving as an 800 call or as a call to the regular number? It didn't always work that way ... in the olden days, when only big companies had 800 service (instead of every schmoe on the planet, myself included), the 800 calls would be delivered on separate trunks. In reality, they were just POTS lines, with (secret) POTS numbers assigned (they called them Plant Test Numbers, which was helpful when reporting trouble, considering that they were numbered 800-555-1234, 800-555-1234A -1234B, -1234C and so on) which could be called if you were friendly with the telco guy and/or learned the number elsewhere. They were class-of-service restricted to prevent outgoing calls, even local. All that said, have you considered distinctive ringing service (called Identa-Ring or some similar name, depending on your LEC), and having the 800 "point" to one number, and giving the other one out as your "local" number? Presto...you can tell the difference (unless someone gets/misdials the "other" local number), and if you get distinctive-ringing-capable stuff (like answering machines, fax/phone switches and so forth) you can even route automatically, based on number called. Bill ------------------------------ From: Gordon S. Hlavenka Subject: Re: 800 Line or "Regular" Line? Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 22:46:58 -0600 Organization: Crash Electronics, Inc. Reply-To: gordon@crashelex.com Cliff Scheller wrote: > Is anyone aware of a device that can inform the recipient whether the > call is arriving as an 800 call or as a call to the regular number? AFAIK, the closest solution is to order a second number (not line) with "distinctive ring" and have the 800 terminate on _that_ number. (Which, of course, you never give out.) Gordon S. Hlavenka www.crashelex.com gordon@crashelex.com Grammar and spelling flames welcome. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 17:51:23 -0600 From: ronw@capcittel.com (Ron Walter) Subject: Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and *? Walt Daniels wrote: > Looking at NANPA I cannot find anything about phone numbers with # and > *. I know the phone companies understand some of them, but which > ones? For instance I have two lines at home and one of them was dead > for almost two days (unknown problem). So the phone company setup a > transfer of the dead number to the working one and told me to hit 73# > or maybe it was 76# to cancel the forwarding when the line started > working again. Are these kinds of numbers allocated or do they vary > by phone company? Are there any reserved numbers that will always be > ignored by the phone company, e.g. ##anything? I don't know of any numbers with # or * in them. The pound (#) and star (*) buttons are basically utility buttons used by equipment such as voice mail and phone systems for specific purposes. Call forwarding or cancelling call forwarding through the phone system fits within this catagory. Usually a voice mail system uses these buttons as a way for a caller to say they are done recording a message, a way to get into your mailbox to check messages, things of this nature. If the pound or star button were ever included as part of a phone number, this would really mess up some phone and voice mail systems. In particular, an automated system that asks you to enter your phone number. If your phone number is 555#12*, after the 555, on many systems the # would tell the system you are done entering numbers and go on to some other function. Ron Walter ronw@capcittel.com Capitol City Telephone, Lincoln NE ------------------------------ From: Richard C. Schoeneck Date: 28 Jan 98 19:30:50 Subject: Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and * > Looking at NANPA I cannot find anything about phone numbers with # and*. > If you go to www.nanpa.org and then to ANI II digits, you would see ^^^ If you did like I did and cut and pasted from Jason's original message you will end up at the North American Nature Photography Association (www.nanpa.com) but www.nanpa.com is more like what we are looking for North American Numbering Plan.^^^ ------------------------------ From: Telecom@LincMad.NOSPAM (Linc Madison) Subject: Re: Who Allocates Numbers With # and *? Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 17:59:30 -0800 Organization: LincMad Consulting; change NOSPAM to COM In article , dan@watson.ibm.com (Walt Daniels) wrote: > Looking at NANPA I cannot find anything about phone numbers with # and > *. I know the phone companies understand some of them, but which > ones? For instance I have two lines at home and one of them was dead > for almost two days (unknown problem). So the phone company setup a > transfer of the dead number to the working one and told me to hit 73# > or maybe it was 76# to cancel the forwarding when the line started > working again. Are these kinds of numbers allocated or do they vary > by phone company? Are there any reserved numbers that will always be > ignored by the phone company, e.g. ##anything? The codes you are referring to are "vertical service codes." There is more information about them on the NANPA website at: The standard is that these codes should be dialed as either *xx[x] or 11xx[x], but GTE (and a few other companies?) decided to implement them on the touchtone side as xx[x]# instead. ** Do not send me unsolicited commercial e-mail spam of any kind ** Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * Telecom@LincMad-com URL:< http://www.lincmad.com > * North American Area Codes & Splits >> NOTE: if you autoreply, you must change "NOSPAM" to "com" << ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V18 #23 *****************************