TELECOM Digest     Wed, 22 Dec 93 12:39:00 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 833

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Book Review: Online Users Encyclopedia (Vedder Wright via Monty Solomon)
    Book Review: On Internet 94 (Dan L. Dale)
    Viewdata Terminal For Sale (Leigh M. Preece)
    Need Two to One Phone Line Switcher Help (andy@helios.njit.edu)
    Hardware Wanted For Compressing Data Over WAN Links (Ove Hansen)
    911 Changes in Toronto (Tony Harminc)
    NEC NEAX 2400 Peculiarity (Will Martin)
    ATM Tariffs - Anyone Have the Facts? (D.E. Price)
    Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts (Tom O'Connell)
    Call For Papers - SIGCOMM'94 (Patrick Dowd)
    Looking For Papers on Cellular Phone Technologies (Dell'Elce Antonio)
    Info Highway: 21 Companies Don't Announce (Tara D. Mahon)
    Digital Cellular Information Wanted (Alex Cena)
    Source For Cellular Phone Accessories Wanted (drhilton@kaiwan.com)
    AT&T --> Earn Miles ON DL, UA, US (Eric Seiden via Monty Solomon)

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 GEnie.
Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:

                 * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *

The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
To reach us:  Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone 
at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 02:46:29 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Subject: Book Review: Online Users Encyclopedia


FYI.  From misc.books.technical.

 Newsgroups: misc.books.technical
 From: vwright@world.std.com (Vedder A Wright)
 Subject: Review: Online Users Encyclopedia
 Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
 Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1993 22:39:30 GMT

                   Massive Telecom Book Arrives
                   c 1993 Vedder Wright

Bernard Aboba's "Online Users Encyclopedia" scoops the entire field
with breathtaking scope from bulletin boards to the Internet, from
how-to's to overview. This is a book for every level, beginner or
advanced. It clearly stands out from the pack in tone, organization,
and detail, offering specific information together with the big
picture -- the "vision thing."

The book is huge: about 800 pages on large format like a Sears
catalog.  The graphics and constant human touches help greatly to lead
the reader through the daunting range of technical information it
contains.

The book is for both Mac and PC platforms. Unix tips and tricks are
also found among the appendices. Other books don't attempt to tackle
this scope.

Of particular note is the detailed information for setting up SLIP and
PPP connections to the Internet, together with reviews of TCP/IP
software tools. The book contains helpful reviews of choice products,
lists of sites, software and hardware discussion, and much more. The
sections on compression utilities and file transfer are more detailed
than any other book I have found. It's well-researched and
well-organized.

Yet Aboba doesn't lose sight of the purpose of all this: to
communicate with other human beings. Vital human issues as well as the
technical details are addressed, such as the role that bulletin boards
play in relation to the Internet. Articles from online pioneers from
Tom Jennings to Vinton Cerf help to inform us of the issues at stake.


Vedder Wright   vwright@world.std.com

******

The Online User's Encyclopedia, by Bernard Aboba 

Addison-Wesley Trade Computer Books 

ISBN:  0-201-62214-9 

Suggested Retail Price: $32.95 Discounts:
Single-copy discounts of 25% are available for schools and 

libraries; steeper volume discounts are available for user groups. 

For information, contact Addison-Wesley Special Markets 

at (617)944-3700, ext. 2915.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 17:42 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <0005517538@mcimail.com>
Subject: Book Review: On Internet 94


 From the publishers of Internet World.
Title:          on INTERNET 94
                453 pages
ISSN:           1066-9973
ISBN:           0-88736-929-4
Preface:        Daniel Dern
Edited:         Tony Abbott

Publisher:      Mecklermedia, 11 Ferry Lane West, Westport CT 06880
                203-226-6967
                Mecklermedia Ltd. Artillery House,Artillery Row,London SW1P 1RT
                071-976-0405
   
Cost:           US$45.00 

Certainly one of the most comprehensive directories of Internet
information services anywhere. For those of you that have ever
requested a List Global from a Listserver, you will appreciate the
tidy cross-referencing and healthy index.  This is exactly what I was
looking for when I first started using the Listserv and FTP-Server
functions of the Internet.

Other books on the Internet are great ... but reading them sometimes
takes as much effort as navigating the Net itself. Jack Webb wanted
"Just the Facts" well they are definitely in this book ... but can
they keep it updated?

Table of Contents

Section 1:      Discussion Lists and Special Interest Mailing Lists
Section 2:      Electronic Journals and Newsletters
Section 3:      Electronic Texts,Text Archives,Selected FTP Sites
Section 4:      Freenets and Other Community-Based Information Services
Section 5:      Campus-Wide Information Systems
Section 6:      Commercial Services on the Internet
Section 7:      Usenet Newsgroups and Other Mailing Lists
Section 8:      WAIS-Accessible Databases
Appendix:       List Review Service
Subject Index

END

------------------------------

From: mda03@keele.ac.uk (L.M. Preece)
Subject: Viewdata Terminal For Sale
Date: 22 Dec 1993 12:10:11 GMT


[ Article crossposted from comp.terminals ]
[ Author was L.M. Preece ]
[ Posted on 21 Dec 1993 14:04:45 GMT ]

Is anyone looking for a Sony Viewdata terminal ?  It has composite
video/RGB/TTL inputs and has inputs for an external modem.  Also
included is a Prestel type facility for hooking up to a phone line.
You can access loads of places with it and maybe even Internet or your
local server.  Mail me back and I can furnish you with the model
number and more specs.  I am advertising it on behalf of a colleague
and not my organization.


Leigh.M.Preece.   Keele University.Staffordshire.UK
           mda03@seq1.cc.keele.ac.uk               

------------------------------

From: andy@helios.njit.edu (andy)
Subject: Need Two to One Phone Line Switcher Help
Organization: EIES2 - NJIT
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 15:54:21 GMT


I am looking to either build or buy a device that will do the following:
 
I need to plug two standard phone lines into a device that will detect
which line is ringing and then connect the output to the line that is
ringing.
 
The device does not need to answer the call, just switch it to the
output line.  I realize two line phones and answering machines are
readily available, but that is not my application, this is just an
easier way to explain what I need.
 
Any replies would be appreciated to:  andy@helios.njit.edu
 
For example:
 
 
                    Line 1              Line 2
                      |                    |
                      |                    |
                      |                    |
                 ---------------------------------
                 |                               |
                 |                               |
                 |           Device              |
                 |                               |
                 |                               |
                 ---------------------------------
                                |
                                |
                                |
                            Telephone
                               or
                         Answering machine


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Isn't the Radio Shack thing still 


available which allows two lines to be switched into one phone (either
manually or automatically) still available? I've had one for a few
years and it works fine. LEDs even tell you which line is currently
switched. You can turn the automatic switching on or off, and choose
which line you want to use for outgoing calls.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: ove@neu.sgi.com (Ove Hansen)
Subject: Hardware Wanted For Compressing Data Over WAN Links
Date: 22 Dec 1993 17:17:09 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.


I'd be interested in receiving information about hardware products
available for compressing data sent over WAN links. I've heard about a
product called Symplex Datamizers and am awaiting more info about
this, does anyone have any experience with Symplex and their products,
or can anyone direct me towards other vendors offering similar
hardware?

Thanks in advance,


Ove Hansen - Network Administrator                 e-mail: ove@neu.sgi.com
Silicon Graphics Manufacturing S.A. (Switzerland)  Phone : (41-38) 433 535
Chemin des Rochettes 2, CH-2016 Cortaillod         Fax   : (41-38) 433 900

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 17:23:36 EST
From: Tony Harminc <EL406045@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
Subject: 911 Changes in Toronto


I saw the following bizarre notice in the paper last week:

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
RE: 9-1-1, Auto-dial Alarm Devices

In order to provide the citizens of Metropolitan Toronto with an
effective, efficient emergency response service, the Metropolitan
Toronto ambulance, fire and police service providers utilize the 9-1-1
emergency telephone system.

Technology has recently been made available to the general public
which allows an alarm device to auto-dial the 9-1-1 emergency number
by pushing a button.  On receipt of the call by an Emergency Operator
a microphone is activated which acts as a one-way listening device for
the operator.

These alarm devices are intended to function without supervision by
automatically accessing the 9-1-1 emergency system, implying that a
need for an emergency service exists.  The subsequent one-way
transmission inhibits proper communications, resulting in unnecessary
confusion and delays, monopolizing the time and efforts of emergency
services personnel who would otherwise be serving the public in more
appropriate ways.  These calls should be received and verified by a
private sector monitoring station, where the expertise and resources
are available to manage such activity.

For these reasons, effective January 1, 1994, the Emergency Services
of Metropolitan Toronto will not respond to, or act upon any alarm
transmitted directly to the 9-1-1 system, from any auto-dial alarm
device.

Members of the public are cautioned accordingly and advised to place
no reliance on these alarm devices, which transmit an alarm directly
to the 9-1-1 system, as a means of obtaining emergency response.  Your
best access to emergency services is a personal telephone call using
the 9-1-1 emergency number or through a professionally monitored alarm
system.

Dated at Toronto this 1st day of December, 1993.

(signed)
Director, Metropolitan Toronto Ambulance Service
Coordinator, Metropolitan Toronto Fire Chiefs
Chief, Metropolitan Toronto Police Force

                     --------------

Well, I can see their point, but in my humble-and-not-lawyer's opinion
they are setting themselves up for a lawsuit.  There is no technical
means to differentiate a 911 call from an alarm auto-dialer from the
case where a person manages to knock the phone off the hook, dial 911,
and perhaps mumble a few words about the emergency.

If they are really going to ignore 911 calls where the caller says
nothing, then they've thrown out half the benefit of the expensive
ANI-ALI system installed some years ago.  Now what they may have
*meant* to say is that they will ignore calls where the auto-dialer
plays a pre-recorded message, which makes reasonable sense, but it
sounds as though they've confused auto-dial burglar alarms with
personal safety dialers.


Tony Harminc

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 04:39:52 CST
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: NEC NEAX 2400 Peculiarity


When I make an outside-line call on our NEC NEAX 2400 system here at
work (dialing 9 and then the local seven-digit number), the system has
the annoying habit of giving me a ring-sound (in the handset or the
speaker, depending which is turned on) and then a click that sounds
*exactly* like the far end picking up on the call. However, it is not
 -- the ring sounds then continue until the called party answers or I
hang up. What is going on that causes this initial ring-tone that I
hear followed by that click? Is it the process of the unit selecting
an outside trunk? If so, why does it give me a ring first?

It is extremely bothersome -- that click sounds so much like the
called party picking up that I am constantly reaching for the phone
handset to start the conversation (our phones have speakers but no
mikes, so we can start a call with the handset hung-up, but have to
grab it to speak when the called party answers). It doesn't matter
that I'm used to this and it happens every time -- I still can't train
myself to ignore that initial click. If these are intentional sonic
signals presented to me to indicate that the unit is working, I don't
appreciate them. I'd prefer a pause of dead silence until it grabs a
trunk and really begins the call.

There's so little correspondence between the ring sounds I hear and
the actual rings the called party's phone emits that I can't say if
that first ringing I hear is before or after the called party's phone
rings the first time. I'm guessing it is always internal-only; that
the click is when the outside connection is made.

Can anyone tell me just what is going on when I call out? When I dial
the initial "9", am I handed off to a telco trunk then, or does the
NEC just suck up all my dialled digits and only emit them to the telco
switch after I finish? Or am I "talking" to the telco switch right
after I dial the initial 9? I suspect the NEC waits until it detects a
complete and valid-by-its-standards number before it passes it to the
telco. That makes detecting and forbidding 976- and 900- calls easy.

If the NEC holds the numbers and then passes them on later, how fast
can it do this? Are the trunks it has to the telco higher-speed or
special lines, or the same as any generic business-type phone line?
Does it spit out DTMF at some far-higher-than-normal speed, or try to
emulate human-dialling speed? (It would seem there isn't all that much
time between the end of my dialling and that magical click ...)

I have no experience with other competing phone systems -- we were on
Centrex before we moved to the building which has this NEC NEAX 2400.
So do other systems do the same thing?


Regards, 

Will

------------------------------

From: dap@aber.ac.uk (D E Price)
Subject: ATM Tariffs - Anyone Have the Facts?
Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 11:57:55 GMT


Dear All,

 I have just spotted some articles in the trade press about a
tariff for ATM announced by the German Telecom.  Does anyone have the
full tariff for them or indeed for any other ATM provider (e.g. Sprint)? 
I want to be able to calculate charges for a range of customers so I 
need to know as much information as you have.


Thanks in advance,

Dave Price

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 21 Dec 93 11:02:43 -0800
From: fico!fico0!tjo@apple.com
Subject: Unique(?) Problem With Voicemail Prompts


Someone in our firm is currently experiencing a "different" problem
with our voice mail system.  She will be leaving a message in
someone's voice mailbox and the system will interrupt her, saying "To
Send this Message, Press..."- as if she had punched a key, but she
hadn't.  The problem has been re-occurring.

Our vendor (Octel) calls it "PROMPT INTERRUPTION", and says it happens
when some individual's voice frequencies are very close to the tones
generated by the keypad.  The system interprets the voice as a key
being punched.

This seems odd, but I have HEARD of it on other systems.  Has this
happened to anyone else?  Anyone come up with a solution to this
problem?  (Other than HORMONE PILLS?)  


Thanks,

Tom O'Connell
Fair, Isaac Co. - San Rafael, CA.
Internet: fico!tjo@apple.com

------------------------------

From: dowd@acsu.buffalo.edu (Patrick Dowd)
Subject: Call For Papers - SIGCOMM'94
Reply-To: dowd@eng.buffalo.edu
Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1993 22:19:17 GMT


      Call for Papers
        ACM SIGCOMM'94 CONFERENCE
       Communications Architectures, Protocols and Applications
       
        University College London
         London, UK
       
      August 31 to September 2, 1994
   (Tutorials and Workshop, August 30)

An international forum on communication network applications and
technologies, architectures, protocols, and algorithms.

Authors are invited to submit full papers concerned with both theory
and practice. The areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

   --  Analysis and  design  of  computer  network  architectures  and
       algorithms, 
   --  Innovative results in local area networks,
   --  Mixed-media networks,
   --  High-speed networks, routing and addressing, support for mobile
       hosts, 
   --  Resource sharing in distributed systems,
   --  Network management,
   --  Distributed operating systems and databases,
   --  Protocol specification, verification, and analysis.

A single-track, highly selective conference where successful
submissions typically report results firmly substantiated by
experiment, implementation, simulation, or mathematical analysis.
Papers must be less than 20 double-spaced pages long, have an abstract
of 100-150 words, and be original material that has not been
previously published or be currently under review with another
conference or journal.



In addition to its high quality technical program, SIGCOMM '94 will
offer tutorials by noted instructors such as Paul Green and Van
Jacobson (tentative), and a workshop on distributed systems led by
Derek McAuley.

Important Dates:

          Paper submissions: 1 February 1994
         Tutorial proposals: 1 March 1994
 Notification of acceptance: 2 May 1994
    Camera ready papers due: 9 June 1994

All submitted papers will be judged based on their quality and
relevance through double-blind reviewing where the identities of the
authors are withheld from the reviewers.  Author's names should not
appear on the paper.  A cover letter is required that identifies the
paper title and lists the name, affiliation, telephone number, email,
and fax number of all authors.

Authors of accepted papers need to sign an ACM copyright release form.
The Proceedings will be published as a special issue of ACM SIGCOMM
Computer Communication Review. The program committee will also select
a few papers for possible publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on
Networking.

Submissions from North America should be sent to:
     Craig Partridge
     BBN
     10 Moulton St
     Cambridge MA 02138

All other submissions should be sent to:
     Stephen Pink
     Swedish Institute of Computer Science
     Box 1263
     S-164 28 Kista
     Sweden

Five copies are required for paper submissions. Electronic submissions
(uuencoded, compressed postscript) should be sent to each program
chair. Authors should also e-mail the title, author names and abstract
of their paper to each program chair and identify any special
equipment that will be required during its presentation. Due to the
high number of anticipated submissions, authors are encouraged to
strictly adhere to the submission date.  Contact Patrick Dowd at
dowd@eng.buffalo.edu or +1 716 645-2406 for more information about the
conference.

Student Paper Award: Papers submitted by students will enter a
student-paper award contest.  Among the accepted papers, a maximum of
four outstanding papers will be awarded full conference registration
and a travel grant of $500 US dollars.  To be eligible the student
must be the sole author, or the first author and primary contributor.
A cover letter must identify the paper as a candidate for this
competition.


Mail and E-mail Addresses:

General Chair
-------------
    Jon Crowcroft
    Department of Computer Science
    University College London
    London WC1E 6BT United Kingdom

    Phone: +44 71 380 7296
    Fax: +44 71 387 1397
    E-Mail: J.Crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk


Program Chairs
--------------
    Stephen Pink (Program Chair)
    Swedish Institute of Computer Science
    Box 1263
    S-164 28 Kista
    Sweden

    Phone: +46 8 752 1559
    Fax: +46 8 751 7230
    E-mail: steve@sics.se

    Craig Partridge (Program Co-Chair for North America)
    BBN
    10 Moulton St
    Cambridge MA 02138

    Phone: +1 415 326 4541
    E-mail: craig@bbn.com

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 11:42:18 GMT
From: tdnycal@dsiaq3.ing.univaq.it (Dell'Elce Antonio)
Subject: Looking For Papers on Cellular Phone Technologies


Do you know of any network-available paper regarding celllular phones
communication (I mean research papers, but anything else is also ok.)

please email to me: tdnycal@dsiaq1.ing.univaq.it


A. dell'elce

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 11:28:20 EST
From: Bob Rosenberg <bob@insight-corp.com>
Subject: Info Highway: 21 Companies Don't Announce


An article that ran in the 13 December {Wall Street Journal} said that
28 companies were to about to announce their support for the Info
Super Highway.  We know that IBM, Apple, BellSouth, AT&T, CitiCorp,
H-P, and Cable Labs were to take part in the announcement, but the
other shoe hasn't dropped yet.

Does anyone know the names of the 21 other companies that are/were
going to take part in this PR fest? Or when/if this announcement will
be made?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.


Bob Rosenberg    bob@insight-corp.com 

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 93 16:00:23 EST
From: Alex Cena <acena@lehman.com>
Subject: Digital Cellular Information Wanted 


Some cellular carriers have made it known, which digital cellular
technology they plan to adopt today and in the future.  For example,
McCaw and Southwestern Bell already are deploying TDMA digital
cellular systems around the country, while Bell South is perceived to
also be leaning toward TDMA given their intent to purchase
infrastructure equipment from Hughes Network Systems.  US West, Pactel
Cellular and Bell Atlantic have announced CDMA deployment plans and
MCI plans to use GSM for its PCS deployment.

Does anyone know where Ameritech and GTE are with respect to digital
cellular technology?  What are the issues involved in the selection
process.


Thanks in advance,

Alex M. Cena    Lehman Brothers, acena@lehman.com

------------------------------

From: drhilton@kaiwan.com (Doc)
Subject: Source For Cellular Phone Accessories?
Reply-To: drhilton@kaiwan.com
Organization: kaiwan.com
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 01:16:47 GMT


I recently bought an AT&T cellular phone, and would like to know of
mail order houses or other outlets for accessories, such as extended
life batteries.  I have a couple of friends who also need such things
as chargers, antennae, etc.

We don't want to pay the rates charged by the cellular provider's
outlet.

Any suggestions?


Best,

drhilton@kaiwan.com - "Doc"

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1993 02:08:51 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Subject: AT&T --> Earn Miles on DL, UA, US


FYI.  From rec.travel.air.

 Newsgroups: rec.travel.air
 From: darsys@pro-entropy.cts.com (Eric A. Seiden)
 Subject: AT&T --> EARN MILES ON DL, UA, US
 Organization: Pro-Entropy  +1-305-265-9073  (DAR Systems Int'l -- Miami, FL)
 Date: Mon, 20 Dec 93 20:38:17 EST

Call 1-800-7-REWARD and sign up. If you use AT&T for over $25/month in
long distance calls, you can get enrolled at NO CHARGE. I responded to
the ad in the paper and was pleased to find out you can apply five
miles for each dollar to any ONE of the three airlines. In your first
month get TRIPLE CREDITS too. There is no charge for this program --
it's designed to keep people with AT&T. (You can also apply credits to
LD service rebates instead).

Keep trying -- the line was busy for almost an hour before I got
through.  What a great idea!


RealName: Eric A. Seiden      (DAR Systems International: Miami, FL, USA)
ProLine : darsys@Pro-Entropy           [Call Pro-Entropy at 305-265-9073]
Internet: darsys@Pro-Entropy.cts.com   [24 hours a day of chaos at 14.4K]

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #833
******************************
