Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id XAA04039; Thu, 5 Feb 1998 23:32:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 23:32:15 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199802060432.XAA04039@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V18 #27 TELECOM Digest Thu, 5 Feb 98 23:32:00 EST Volume 18 : Issue 27 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 877 Replication Report (Judith Oppenheimer) State Approves Plan For Second Area Code in Northern Nevada (Tad Cook) US Warns Junk E-mailers Against Scam Offerings (Tad Cook) Country Code +423 for Liechtenstein (Mark J. Cuccia) Re: Moscow Phone History (Jim Cobban) Call Center Designer - Renowned Firm (Lynn Waters Recruiting) Area Code 225 For Baton Rouge LA (Mark J. Cuccia) IIA-A (Robert Speirs) The Deliberalisation in Hong Kong (Alex Pang) 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. 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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: Judith Oppenheimer Subject: 877 Replication Report Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 21:37:11 -0500 Organization: ICB TOLL FREE NEWS, Daily News Serv. of Toll Free Industry Reply-To: joppenheimer@icbtollfree.com We keep getting calls about 877 replication. We tell the dismayed and disappointed that there is no 877 set-aside for replication, as there was with 888. Callers *swear* they've read about it, and then lo and behold, we bump into a January 20 {Bergen Record} article, "New toll-free number, 877, to make debut" which states, among other things, "roughly 375,000 of 888 and 877 vanity numbers have been set aside by Bellcore, which expects to offer them to 800 holders first", ostensibly quoting Bellcore spokesman Ken Branson. So, one more time ... There is NO replication, or for that matter, early reservation beyond carrier marketing wait-lists, for 877. None. As of this moment, SMS will first take reservations for 877 from RespOrgs some time after 12:01 AM on April 5, first-come-first-serve. And this, though the narrowed tunnel of the ration allocation system, which will only be doubled for the first two weeks after 877 opens up. Which will place your numbers behind the carriers' own (877 COLLECT, 877 PIN DROP, 877 CALL ATT, etc.); then their largest customers, and then, somewhere down the road ... you. In a marketplace where carriers are pitting 800-holding customers against 877-wannabe customers (MCI seems to be particulary callous toward some of its existing 800 customers), you can expect an active market in 877, as desirable numbers (ones that no one wants to use, but rather, to be shelved by the 800, and now 888, holders ... as well as those appealing for potential misdial value) get taken for market value, and then redistributed in the FCC-banned, but active nonetheless, secondary market. ... and the band played on ... Judith Oppenheimer, Publisher ICB TOLL FREE NEWS The daily news service of the Toll Free Industry 15-day, no-obligation FREE trial: http://icbtollfree.com ------------------------------ Subject: State Approves Plan For Second Area Code in Northern Nevada Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 17:34:46 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) CARSON CITY (AP) -- State regulators voted Thursday to approve a new telephone area code for northern Nevadans and limit the existing 702 code to booming Las Vegas and surrounding communities. The 702 code would remain in Clark County, encompassing Las Vegas. For the rest of the state, voluntary use of the new code -- which hasn't been chosen yet -- would start next December. By May 1999, the new code's use would be mandatory. The Public Utilities Commission action had been recommended by Commissioner Tim Hay who presided over several hearings on the proposal. While some northern Nevadans aren't happy with the plan, the PUC's staff has endorsed it providing there's adequate public notice. The staff and the attorney general's office also asked for a delay until late 2000 before callers using a 702 for a northern Nevada call get a recording telling them their call didn't go through. Doug Hescox, area code administrator for Nevada and California, hasn't divulged options for the new code. But he said a "lucky" 777 or a code close to the old 702 -- like 701 or 703 -- are already reserved or in use elsewhere. Critics had argued earlier that the change will create hassles for many state agencies as well as some local government offices in northern Nevada, and northern Nevadans in general shouldn't be inconvenienced by a change made necessary mainly by southern Nevada's rapid growth. But suggestions that the new code be given to the Las Vegas area were opposed by top Clark County officials. Hescox has said the aproved plan will mean a new code for about 2 million phone numbers in the north. The 702 code will be kept for another 3 million numbers in the south. That's in line with a policy of trying to keep the disruption caused by new codes limited to the least number of phone customers possible. Hescox also said no additional codes should be needed in Nevada for several years at a minimum. ------------------------------ Subject: US Warns Junk E-mailers Against Scam Offerings Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 17:30:46 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal regulators said Thursday they had warned more than 1,000 senders of junk e-mail not to distribute fraudulent or deceptive offers. The Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Postal Service said the warnings followed a review of more than 60,000 questionable e-mail offerings that were forwarded to them by consumers. "The FTC is on the Internet beat and will follow up with spam artists who don't clean up their correspondence," Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's consumer protection division, said. The junk e-mail pitched a wide array of scams, from illegal pyramid investment schemes to bogus job offers and loans. Internet users who received the mail forwarded it to the FTC at a special mailbox, uce+ftc.gov, set up to help track online schemes. While the e-mail pitches reviewed likely violated the law, the agencies lacked the resources to pursue every case, an official explained. Instead, the agencies sought the names and addresses of the senders and issued warnings. The agencies would likely commence legal proceedings if they receive further evidence that a junk e-mailer had ignored the warning, the official said. The move followed a similiar warning issued in 1996 to more than 500 Web site operators promoting pyramid schemes. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Feb 1998 10:59:32 -0600 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Country Code +423 for Liechtenstein Although the ITU now charges a subscription fee for (username and password required) web-access to its twice-a-month "Operational Bulletin" and even for basic _lists_ of country-codes (telephone, telex, data networks, SS7 codes, international telephone calling-card issuer-identifier, mobile networks, etc.), they do allow viewing of the _table-of-contents_ page (only) of the Operational Bulletin, beginning with Issue #648 (15-July-1997). The "main menu" URL for links to specific years of Operational Bulletins, for links to the (username/password) required Bulletins themselves (and "Annex" lists), as well as the free (_NO_ password required) 'Table-of-Contents' pages, is: http://www.itu.ch/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/op-bull.html In the Table-of-Contents for Operational Bulletin #660 (15-JAN-1998) http://www.itu.ch/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/op-bull/1998/tocob660_e_66543.html there is mention under 'TSB: Telephone Service' of the following: "Liechtenstein/Switzerland (SWISSCOM, Berne, Suisse - Advance Notification regarding the introduction of country code +423 for telephony (ITU-T E.164) in the Principality of Liechtenstein)" I have no further information as to dates that this will take effect, nor if the Country Code change will be a 'flash' cut or permissive 'parallel' dialing cut. Nor do I know if Liechtenstein will continue to use code (0)75 (its present Area Code within +41 Switzerland) within its own new +423 Country Code. [Does anybody know what the local number length (not including the +41-75-) is currently used in Liechtenstein?] Liechtenstein has shared Switzerland's +41 Country Code for decades, probably ever since the CCITT/ITU first developed and standardized the worldwide telephone country-code format, circa 1964. Since Czech and Slovakia split apart politically _and_ telephonically, +420 is Czech and +421 is Slovakia. I wonder if +422 is assigned or reserved for anything specific in Europe. Maybe for Denmark's Greenland (presently +299) or Denmark's Faeroe Islands (presently +298)? IIRC, there are also some other vacant +38x country-codes. 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: Jim Cobban Subject: Re: Moscow Phone History Date: 5 Feb 1998 19:10:48 GMT Organization: Nortel In article , Leonid A. Broukhis wrote: > I'm translating this from a Russian online technical tidbits review by > Dmitry Zavalishin (http://koi8.excimer.ru/dz/online/on-28-01-98.htm): > [...] Moscow telephony is more than 100 years old. This is practically > not interesting. Interesting is that today [i.e. 1/28 - L.B.] the last > in Moscow, and probably in the whole world, "machine" exchange is > being dismantled. The machine exchange is a horrible beast, put in > service in 1931, which design predates even the oldest step exchanges > (nowadays hard to find by themselves). The aforementioned machine > exchange (located on the Ordynka street) - the first automatic one in > Moscow. > It worked, as can be easily computed, SIXTY SEVEN YEARS. The Moscow > City Phone Network authority had no possibility to replace it earlier. >PS. Now the question: what is "machine" exchange? I have heard that when the Bolsheviks took over in 1918 that Moscow had just installed a brand new Ericsson telephone switch. For the next seven decades there was no further technical development. As demand grew for additional lines the telephone administration simply replicated the mechanical design of that 1918 vintage switch. As in most areas of Soviet life, with the exception of the military where necessity forced an exception, it was impossible to admit the superiority of the decadent, bourgeois, capitalist technology of the West. Jim Cobban | jcobban@nortel.ca | Phone: (613) 763-8013 Nortel (MCS) | | FAX: (613) 763-5199 | "I am not a number. I am a human being!" | P. McGoohan, "The Prisoner" ------------------------------ From: Lynn Waters Recruiting Subject: Call Center Designers - Renowned Firm Date: Wed, 04 Feb 1998 17:36:17 -0600 Organization: LISCO Reply-To: lwr@lisco.com Progressive, world-renowned firm now has senior positions for individuals with Call Center design experience. If you have experience in Call Center planning, design, and implementation, we'd like to talk with you! We're looking for someone with extensive experience in PBX/ACD, CTI, and interactive voice response, as well as project management (including personnel supervision and work planning). This renowned firm seeks self-starters with excellent interpersonal skills and leadership abilities. State-of-the-art training provided every year. These positions are full travel--you can reside anywhere in the U.S., as long as you're near a major airport. We're looking for talented individuals with these further qualifications: <> Minimum 5 years of professional, commercial experience <> B.S. or B.A. in computer science or related degree--GPA 3.0 <> U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. (Please indicate your citizenship status on your resume in order to be considered.) Please use a descriptive file name that includes your last name when e-mailing your resume. Thank you. See our Web site at http://www.lisco.com/lwr Inquire to: Lynn Waters Recruiting email: lwr@lisco.com phone: (515) 472-3021 (800) 316-7599 fax: (515) 469-3361 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 11:09:20 -0600 From: Mark J. Cuccia Subject: Area Code 225 for Baton Rouge LA WWL-Radio/870 announced on Thursday 5 February, in the 11:00am (Central) hourly news that the La.PSC has announced that 225 will be the new NPA code for the Baton Rouge area. There were no permissive/mandatory dates announced, and a call to the La.PSC's 800 number (in Baton Rouge) didn't reveal anything. The woman who answered didn't seem to know that 225 was going to be the new NPA code. The La.PSC held a press conference at 9:00am (Central) on Thursday, at a hotel in the Baton Rouge area, but the receptionists at the PSC didn't seem to have any information. (She even asked me what WWl-Radio said the new code would be). Rumor has it from a contact I have in the industry that permissive dialing will begin in August 1998, with mandatory dialing in April 1999. 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- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 14:16:36 AST From: Robert Speirs Subject: IIA-A company : InfoInterActive Inc URL : http://www.interactive.ca/ symbol : IIA exchange: ASE Internet Call Manager..."Best of Show"...at Comdex/Toronto. - Sandy McMurray, Toronto Sun, 16 July 1997 On Wednesday 4 February 1998, InfoInterActive Inc (IIA) announced that William H.R. Smith had accepted the position of Chairman of the Board, replacing Sidney (Sid) P. Dutchack, who will remain on the board. Mr. Smith was formerly vice- president (Atlantic Canada) of Northern Telecom. In his new capacity as chairman, Mr. Smith announced that J. Murray Souter has joined the board of directors. Mr. Souter is vice-president for consumer services at Maritime Tel & Tel (MT&T). Prior to joining MT&T in 1997, Mr. Souter was vice-president of sales and marketing at Reebok Canada, and at Bauer Canada. Resigning from the board are Grant Kook and Kenneth Noland. The board has also approved two appointments to the management team: Michael D. Smith has been appointed executive vice-president and general manager. Mr. Smith previously held marketing and investment positions at MT&T and at Procter & Gamble. Donald A. Chisholm has been appointed vice-president of research and development. IIA has completed a private placement of 100,000 units at C$0.41 for gross proceeds of C$41,000. Each unit consists on one common share and one warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at C$0.45 expiring two years after issuance. On Tuesday 6 January 1998, IIA was named by Internet Stock Review as one of the top twenty Internet stocks to watch in 1998. Business Wire stated -- Imagine this: You are at home on the Internet (you have only one line). Someone calls you, and a box pops up on your screen with caller ID. You see the name and can choose "Take the call" or "Have them call back." The caller hears, "The person you are calling is on the line; he sees you are calling and has indicated he will call you back from the number you are calling from," or "The person you are calling is on the line; he sees you are calling and has indicated he would like you to call back in a few moments when the line is free." See it live at the company's website. For more information, contact: Roland Perry Internet Stock Review c/o Perry & Co suite 200 468 Camden Dr N Beverly Hills, CA 90210 USA tel:(310)285-1778 "Roland Perry" On Friday 12 December 1997, IIA announced that a major US telephone company will immediately begin market trials of Internet Call Manager (ICM). Under the agreement, the US phone company will have the exclusive right to sell ICM directly to its own customers, with IIA sharing revenues. Upon successful completion of the market trial, both companies intend to cooperate in further expansion of the service in the US. On Monday 1 December 1997, IIA announced that, for the first nine months of 1997 ending 30 September, IIA reported a net loss of C$892,262 on revenues of C$62,769 or a loss of C$0.10 per share. During the same period last year, IIA reported a loss of C$445,966 on revenues of C$63,609 or a loss of C$0.01 per share. The current loss is a result of the IIA's continued capital spending on customer acquisition and new market development for its ICM service. IIA is pleased with the level of customer interest and satisfaction with ICM, however, the cost of customer acquisition in the early stages of service deployment is higher than expected. IIA believes that these costs will be reduced in the fourth quarter and beyond as it increases serving areas and achieves efficiencies in advertising programs. IIA expects that, in the fourth quarter, ending 31 December 1997, ICM will be available in New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta, bringing the number of total provinces in Canada served to seven, and the available market to over one million Internet connected homes. Efforts are continuing to introduce ICM in the US and the company expects to begin a trial in a major US city in December in cooperation with two US telecommunications companies. IIA has made an addition to its management team with the hiring of Michael Smith as executive vice president. Mr. Smith was employed by MT&T, where he held positions in marketing and new investment opportunity analysis. He played a key role in facilitating the MT&T investment in the IIA. Mr Smith will hold prime responsibility for the company's ongoing partnership with MT&T. On Monday 24 November, 1997, IIA announced that ICM was available for the first time in New Brunswick, Canada. ICM requires an NBTel feature called Call Forward Busy service at a cost of C$2 per month. IIA automatically activates the feature on behalf of the customer when they order ICM. ICM can save Internet users in New Brunswick more than C$175 annually, compared to the cost of a second line from NB Tel. For New Brunswick residents, the service is available only from IIA. In Nova Scotia, it is provided in conjunction with MT&T. On Thursday 25 September 1997, IIA announced that it had released an even more powerful version of its popular ICM service in the Greater Toronto Area. ICM Deluxe (Version 4) adds two powerful functionality features - the ability to take calls as they come in, and an integrated twenty-four hours voice-mail service which works just like telephone company voice mail. Users of ICM Deluxe no longer need to subscribe to the telephone company voice-mail service, thus reducing their phone bill by approximately C$5 per month. On Wednesday 24 September 1997, IIA announced that it had signed an agent agreement with HookUp Communications (HU-T) to distribute its ICM service to its dial-up Internet customers. On Wednesday 10 September 1997, IIA announced that iStar Internet (WWW-T) , Canada's leading Internet solutions company, will be the first ISP to introduce ICM to its customers under IIA's new distribution program that has been designed especially for Internet service providers (ISPs). The agent program permits Internet service providers to add value to their services and earn incremental revenue without any capital costs. Under the program, IIA provides all customer service, billing and technical support enabling ISPs to focus on their core business activities. ICM is the only service that solves the busy phone line problem that is experienced by the majority of Internet users. Users of ICM are able to monitor their incoming calls while their line is busy during an Internet session. As a result, ICM users benefit in two important ways: first, ICM users no longer miss important calls because of a busy phone line and second, there is no longer a need for an expensive second phone line. When an ICM user receives a call while his/her line is busy on the Internet, the call is automatically re-directed to IIA's ICM server. The ICM server collects the caller information and sends it to the Internet to the user's computer screen. While the caller hears the normal ringing signal, the user is presented with the caller's ID ( the name and number of the calling party ) on the screen. Once notified of the call, users can then choose to acknowledge the caller by selecting a courtesy message which tells the caller that they are on the phone and that they will call back. The user has the following options when a call comes in while the line is busy: Call Accept - The caller hears a brief message indicating that the person has seen their call and will take it momentarily. The user's Internet session is logged off and ICM then transfers the call to the user telephone line. After the call, the Internet session can resume normally. This option is perfect for important calls. Call Transfer - The user can transfer the call to a free line, such as a cellular phone or other line. This is great for users who do not want to publish their cellular telephone number, using it sparingly for calls while on the Internet. Voice Mailbox: When ICM users would prefer to talk with the caller later they can simply ignore the call and allow it to transfer to their personal voice-mailbox. Messages can be retrieved by phone later using a simple push-button interface. This same voice mailbox also takes messages when the user is not on the Internet, and uses the special lamp on many new phones indicating a message is waiting. It is a great solution for taking messages when the line is busy, unlike an answering machine. Call Acknowledge: The caller hears a special message, the user sets up letting the caller know that they are on the Internet and to please leave a message. Call Logging: All calls are conveniently logged with the time, date, and the calling name and number. The service works with most popular dial-up Internet service providers and browser software. Customers do not need to subscribe to Call Waiting or Caller-ID from their local telephone company and there is no need for special multimedia hardware or software. The ICM client software is available for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1x. ICM Version 3 service is priced at C$4.99 per month or C$19.95 for six months, and is available to most users in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. ICM Deluxe Version 4 service is priced at C$6.49 per month or the equivalent of C$5.49 per month for six months, and is available in the greater Toronto area. In Bell Canada territory, customers are subject to an additional charge of C$1.50 per month feature access charge. Interested parties can visit the company's website to sign up for a free thirty days trial of the service. Customers, industry watchers and consumer advocates across Canada have been enthusiastic about ICM to date. For more information, contact: William (Bill) McMullin President InfoInterActive Inc Sun Tower suite 604, 1550 Bedford Hwy Bedford, NS B4A 1E6 Canada tel:(902)832-1014/832-1611/1-800-270-1014 ext.21 fax:(902)832-1015 bill@interactive.ca http://www.interactive.ca/ For research, see: http://chebucto.ns.ca/~speirs/iia-a.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THIS ARTICLE WAS NOT SOLICITED NOR DISSEMINATED BY INFOINTERACTIVE. IT WAS DISSEMINATED BY ROBERT SPEIRS , EDITOR AND PUBLISHER OF SMALL-CAP STOCK ANALYST REPORT. ROBERT SPEIRS IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH INFOINTERACTIVE. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 01:27:54 +0800 From: Alex Pang Subject: The Deliberalisation in Hong Kong Dear Sirs, I am writing to ask for some advices from the people who are enjoying cheaper telecommuncation services in U.S. Hong Kong's international telephone service is now monopolised by a comglomerate called Hong Kong Telecom International. It's exclusivity will not expired until the fall of 2006. However, the government are going to get back this franchise and will pay back about one billion U.S.dollars in cash to the company. In addition, the comglomete is also a major carrier in the fixed telephone network service licencee in Hong Kong, and a comparatively low service charges were enjoyed deal to the cross-subsidy by long distance call. With the deliberation of the international communication service, the government allow the comglomerate to increase the local fixed line telephone service charge by 30% next year. The service charge will soar by 60% in the next three years. On the contrary, government told the publice that people can save more than two billion US dollars in long distance call after introducing competition in that service. My query is: 1) The prices of long term distance call here in Hong Kong provided by "call back" service and other fixed line network services licensee (through Hong Kong Telecom International) have already make it possible for people to enjoy a comparatively cheap long distance call service. Can people save up such a lot of money by introducing competition in the sence that new gateways were introduced here in Hong Kong 2)Is there any bitter experience in local or long distance telecommunication services in U.S. after the liberalization of the telecom market in U.S. or somewhere else? Please tell me your experience at the e-mail address: pky@asiaonline.net or newsmag@netvigator.com Thank you so much! Alex Pang A journalist in Hong Kong [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'Is there any bitter experience in telecom service in the USA since divesture? ...' Is that your question? .... oooh .... are there stories that could be told. I'm sure some readers here will respond with all the lurid details. But in fairness, much good has come of it also. Readers who want to reply direct to Mr. Pang are encouraged to do so. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V18 #27 *****************************