TELECOM Digest     Mon, 7 Mar 94 14:09:00 CST    Volume 14 : Issue 117

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    International vs. 900 Numbers (Will Martin)
    CBTA Call For Papers (Mary Nakoneczny)
    LD Headaches From Within an IBX System (Jonathan Lieberman)
    Clipped Again (A. Padgett Peterson)
    Pair-Gain, ADSL, HDSL Information Needed (Alex Cena)
    Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Phone Harrassment (Jim Thomas)
    Maps of LATA's in the US (Robert S. Mah)
    Need TAP/IXO For Alpha Pagers (George Cifrancis)
    Need Help With Minitel Files (Franck Nazikian)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 8:58:49 CST
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL>
Subject: International vs. 900 Numbers


We've previously discussed the use of international numbers as opposed
to 900 numbers or 800 numbers with billing for the sex-call industry;
the way it works is that the caller pays the ordinary international-call 
rate and the provider gets a kickback from the foreign-country telco.

I have a friend who recently started a 900-type call service (actually, he
just provides the information and someone else actually arranged the 900
line and handles the business aspects) at 95 cents per minute for
daily-updated data related to shortwave radio listening.  Of course, as
soon as this began, there was the usual fuss amongst some parts of the
hobby about how this was too expensive and that it was inappropriate, etc. 
(Same sort of stuff Pat has to put up with regarding the "commercialization" 
issue.) One objection that IS valid, though, is that this service is
not available to out-of-the-US people with the 900-number arrangement.
There is a possibility it might be available to Canadian callers in
the future, but that isn't definite.  (In the past, this information
was broadcast worldwide on a sponsored shortwave radio program, but
the difficulties of keeping sponsors and the time it took to produce
the program each day killed that off.  During that period, though, it
was freely available to anyone in the world who cared to listen and
who could receive the signal.  So there is an international audience
but it is probably relatively small.)

I'm wondering how feasible it might be to transfer this 900-service to
one of the international-call arrangements.  Looking through a recent
men's magazine, I see a couple international-call sex services amidst
the sea of 800, 900, and regular number ads.  These advertise numbers
in the 011-592-247-4XX and 011-373-969-00XX ranges.  According to the
Telecom Archives "country.codes" files, "592" is Guyana, and I recall
that we mentioned that country's participation in this field before.
But, unless I'm misreading the file, "373" is Moldova, and this seems
very odd to me.  Is Moldova really involved in this international
sex-call kickback scheme?  I would have thought the service to that
country wouldn't have the capacity to support such a usage.  I had
thought these were only based in the South American/Central American/
Caribbean region.  Am I being misled by the way the advertisers hyphenate 
these numbers?  The way I show them is the way they appear in the ads.

Anyway, how does one go about setting up such an arrangement? Is it at
all feasible to even think about this sort of thing with a moderate
volume of calls, or do the foreign telcos insist on such a high level
of usage before they will begin to consent to such a scheme that the
sort of special-audience appeal to a limited number of people that I'm
talking about would never make it? That only the huge calling volume
generated by sex-talk lines will make this setup practical or viable?
(I do note that those international-number ads were larger than the
run-of-the-mill 800- and 900-number ads; I guess thus more likely to
generate higher call volumes.)

With whom does one negotiate this arrangement? With the foreign PTT
directly? With a US-based IXC? Or are there brokers who do this and
you have to use their services and pay them a cut, because they have
an "in" with the powers-that-be? What countries do support this sort
of arrangement? Can anyone provide any sort of guesstimate as to the
figures involved, such as how many cents per minute the info provider
ends up with as the bottom line?

Can these numbers be called as local from within their respective host
countries? (I'm hoping that they are, because I wouldn't want a
potential caller to be prevented from calling just because he lived in
the same country where the service is based. Even though such a call
wouldn't generate any revenue, it is still more important to make the
information available to all.)

As a separate side issue, I had first attempted to find out some
international-calling information by looking in my local St. Louis
1994 Southwestern Bell white pages.  I was shocked to find out that
they have dropped ALL international-calling information or instructions.  
They replaced what I recall as several pages of country codes and instruct-
ions/information with a paragraph telling people to contact their long-
distance carrier for information.  It sure seems that the local operating 
companies are taking advantage of the breakup environment to abandon
their time-honored responsibility to inform and instruct their subscribers 
in at least the basic guidance needed to use the telephone system.  Is
this universal, or is this unfortunate change something local to the Midwest, 
and the directories for areas that perhaps have greater proportions of
international-calling populations have retained the general guidance
and instructions for international calling?

Regards and thanks, 


Will


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As you point out, there is always *someone*
who is unable to participate. When you were doing it via the radio, there
were those folks who were unable to receive the signal due to poor propo-
gation that day. Via 900, there will those folks who phone lines are blocked
and with international numbers, there will be still other problems. I am
beginning to think the only practical way of handling this sort of thing
is by using a local seven digit number and a method of screening incoming
calls to obtain payment and letting it go at that. Then, anyone who wishes
to call that number can do so, and you set some small fee based on the
number of minutes they use the service, etc. They can pay by credit card
or by sending a check, etc and when their bulk purchase of time runs out
then they either have left instructions to automatically debit their account
for more time or they send a new check or whatever. I've got a machine here
which will do that; you enter your password and get to listen to the message
you are entitled to hear, etc. Each time you call, the clock checks your
account against available minutes remaining. Call or write me and maybe we
can work something out.  PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 12:26:41 EST
From: Mary Nakoneczny <nakonem@gov.on.ca>
Subject: CBTA Call For Papers


Now is the time to begin planning for the Canadian Business Telecommunica-
tions Alliance (CBTA) annual Conference and Trade Exposition - TeleCon '94.
TeleCon'94 will be held at the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre,
Toronto, Ontario on October 11 to 14, 1994.

The TeleCon '94 theme is ... IMAGINATION: Our Only Limitation
                             --------------------------------   

Today's technologies and more specifically, their applications are
advancing by leaps and bounds.  Nowhere is this acceleration more
apparent than in the telecommunications industry.

Products and services that are commonplace today existed only in our
imaginations as recently as a few years ago.  Likewise those innovations
and applications that are currently just a fantasy will be a reality in
the near future.  The telecommunications world of tomorrow is limited only
by our imaginations today.


Qualifications?

At TeleCon, we address the issues of the utmost importance to Canada's
telecommunications professionals.  Their needs are specific, their
expectations, high.  Therefore, the TeleCon'94 Conference Committee
requires speakers who are well-versed in and have an excellent understand-
ing of the industry, its technologies, services and standards.

Telecommunications professionals -- like yourself -- will continue to make
the CBTA's annual Conference and Trade Exposition the forecmost source of
expert development for Canada's telecommunication industry.


Benefits

Making the commitment to speak at TeleCon'94 will earn you and your
organization recognition and admiration from your peers along with the
benefits of an excelllent high profile promotional opportunity.
Further, you will have the opportunity to increase you "Networking"
contacts and, as a designated speaker, you will be able to attend
other sessions and planned delegate activities on the day of your
presentation as a guest of the CBTA.


Interested?

Please submit a 250 to 300 word outline of your proposed session by
Monday, March 21, 1994.  If you are selected we will notify you in
late April and the Conference Committee will request a 2500 to 3000
word synopsis of your session for publication in the TeleCon'94
Conference Proceedings no later than July 4, 1994.

Following is a list of topics to serve as a guideline for your
proposal.  If you have a topic about which you would like to speak
that does not fall into any of the categories below, but still related
to the theme, feel free to submit a proposal on that topic.

What is of paramount importance is the creative and innovative uses
that have been (or will be) successfully applied to technical,
managerial, economic or social telecommunications enterprises.

 *  Multimedia / Digital Convergence
 *  Innovative Uses of Telecommunications
 *  The Virtual Corporation - Your Back Door Neighbour
 *  What is the Next Step in the Information Revolution
 *  The New Information Professional
 *  What Are Customers Looking For?  Organizational Design
    Requirements of Information Networks
 *  ISDN
 *  Has Education Kept Up with the Information Age?
 *  The Evolving Global Telecommunications Industry
 *  Toll Fraud / Security - What's it Costing You?
 *  Will ATM Technology Work on Satellites?
 *  Exploring the Internet
 *  Why Mommy and Daddy Can't Access Bulletin Boards
 *  The Electronic Highway
 *  Imagine If ...


In addition, the TeleCon'94 Conference Committee would like to present
three (3) specific sessions focusing on the interest and needs of the
financial community (i.e. banking, brokerages and insurance) as well
as three (3) separate sessions on government priorities.


Fax, Mail or Hot-Air Balloon your ingenious proposals to:

 John Westover
 TeleCon '94 Conference Co-ordinator
 Suite 1160
 36 Toronto Street
 TORONTO, Ontario
 M5C 2C5

Fax Number  (416) 359-9909
Tel Number  (416) 359-2911 Ext. 2241


Since there is not a great deal of lead time you may also send your
outline via the Internet to:

 Mary J. Nakoneczny
 CBTA Conference Committee Member
 Internet ID:  nakonem@mcc.gov.on.ca

I will ensure that they are delivered to John Westover.

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

From: lie6@midway.uchicago.edu (Jonathan Lieberman)
Subject: LD Headaches From Within an IBX System
Reply-To: lie6@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: The University of Chicago
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 06:18:21 GMT


Hello,

I am a student at the University of Chicago, living in a dorm. The
whole campus has a large IBX, using most (or all) of the 702 and 753
prefixes.  This year my number changed from a 702 to a 753 number.
Ever since then during aproximatly 35% - 50% of my long distance calls
(both those that I originate, and when other people call me long
distance) I hear other people (and they hear me) making long distance
calls from within my building. I called the campus telecom folks who
said, if you only have the problem when you are calling long distance,
then it is an AT&T problem.

I tried to call the AT&T operator tone, 8+xxxxxx, tone, 0, and I got a
busy signal. Then I tried tone, 8+xxxxxx, tone, 10-ATT and I again I got
a busy signal. Finally I called 1-800-operator, and waited for a person
to appear and I had them transfer me. Sheesh! In any case eventually
AT&T took my report.

In my ignorace, it seems unlikely that this is an AT&T problem, since
my line always seems to be crossed with people in the same building
and this never used to happen until the numbers changed. Anybody have
any thoughts?

About the specifics of our system, I don't know if any of the following 
information is useful in describing the specific type of system that we 
have, all I know is that it is an IBX, so forgive me if the following
is not useful:

What I know: You can dial any 702-xxxx or 753-yyyy as 2-xxxx or 3-yyyy
from within the system. Some phones (students') require an 8+ a 6
digit code to get an outside line, others (offices') require only a 9.
There are 5-zzzz numbers that are only accessible from within the
system, or through a 702-xxxx gateway. They offer a single package of
services to students called "the big 3" that consists of call waiting
(flash,*4), speed dialing (#4x), and three-way calling (call one person
flash, *1, call the other flash,*1). On some phones internal and
external calls ring differently.


Jonathan Lieberman   lie6@midway.uchicago.edu


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Things have changed out there quite a
bit since I worked in the old phone room thirty years ago and all calls
went via the main switchboard on MIDway-3-0800. Then, in addition to the
main switchboard where I worked, there were auxilliary switchboards in
each dorm and quite a few campus departments. The dorms for example had
switchboards with 20-30 extensions on them in a 'hunt group' and the
local front desk clerk/operator in the dorm answered calls on those lines
and in turn used the local switchboard to pass the calls to student
rooms. Then the phone room was at 5801 Ellis on the sixth floor. 

Like yourself, I doubt that the problem you are experiencing now has
anything at all to do with AT&T. There is more than likely a problem
in the local switching system which is restricted to perhaps one or
two circuits and when the 'luck of the draw' has your call using the
troubled circuit then you get the problem you describe. It might help
to isolate the problem a bit further with more specifics before going
back to the admins with the complaint again. For example, do you
always get the same people when this happens? You mention that they
can hear you, but have you ever found out if *they* experience the
same problem with still others on some percentage of their calls? Is
there a certain time of day or night when this is more likely to
happen than other times? Does it occur right from the instant when you
dial your call and continue until/unless you disconnect and dial over
or is it an intermittant thing which occurs at some point in your call
and then drops out seconds or minutes later? Is there a method by which
when this happens you could put the call on hold and use another phone
to call the phone repair people so they could catch it right while it
was happening?  

Quite a few years ago, when I lived near you and was serviced by the
same telephone office as yourself (they call it Kenwood Bell, on the
corner of 61st and Kenwood Avenue), I went for a couple weeks trying to
make calls about midnight every night and *always* getting a trashy,
nasty connection on my first attempt. I'd busy the line out and try
again from my second line and get through okay. I never had this problem
during the day -- always late at night or early in the morning. Finally
a technician working nights took an interest in it and told me the next
time it happened to hold the troubled circuit up on one line and call him
on my other line. I did that, and while the connection was up he went
in the frames (of course, frames are a thing now of the distant past) 
and found me; he came on the bad line (I was on there waiting for him
per his instructions) and he said thanks very much, he found the booger ... 
and it was repaired that day. It appears the first selected trunk in
a group of circuits from that phone office to another one was bad, and
yes indeed, it was bad all day long but during the day when there were
always calls going on, no one person would ever seize that first trunk
all the time. Someone would place a call and get it, hang up in disgust
and dial over. In the second or two interim, some other person would place
a call and seize the bad trunk; they'd hang up and a third person would
call. It was rare anyone got it two or three times in a row. When I was
calling at midnight, the traffic was slow enough I *always* got the first
selected trunk. By keeping it up on one line and dialing again on my
second line, I'd always go around it. 

So you see, I suspect in your case it is much the same thing: some circuit
between the campus phone exchange and Kenwood Bell (they are across the
alley from each other coincidentally; the campus phone equipment is in the
basement of the Center for Continuing Education on 60th Street) is bad; it
is early in the selection of trunks used to place student long distance
calls; no one person gets it enough of the time or with a consistency to
pinpoint it. Everyone now and then gets it, considers it a fluke and hangs
up to dial over; they then get a clean line because some other person got the
bad one. You've noticed it is always another student which is helpful;
and you've noticed it is always on a long distance call, which is also very
helpful. Therefore, IMO (look, no 'H'; that's because I do not give humble
opinions), one of the 'eight-level trunks' between the campus and Kenwood
Bell is sour; who gets camped on it at any given time is anyone's guess.
Get the name of a sympathetic person in the phone repair department; ask
him if the next time it happens can you call him to go and look for it
while you keep the connection up.  If you want, print this note out and
take it to show them; maybe that will be helpful.  Let us know how this
works out for you, and good luck.   PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 7 Mar 94 08:54:26 -0500
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: Clipped Again


{Time Magazine}, March 14, 1994

>  In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich 
> Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of 
> phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps. 
> When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it.

This makes no sense to me. Today there is *no* privacy in phone calls
so the question must have been worded so as to imply that there is for
people to believe that Clipper provides *less*.

> Government agencies will phase in use of Clipper technology for all
> unclassified communications. Commercial use of the chip will be
> voluntary -- for now.

More loaded prose -- the point was missed that to use Clipper for its
own "sensitive but unclassified" information meant that the gov thinks
it is *good enough for government work*.

> Rather than outlaw PGP and other such programs, a policy that would
> probably be unconstitutional, the Administration is taking a marketing
> approach. By using its purchasing power to lower the cost of Clipper
> technology, and by vigilantly enforcing restrictions against overseas
> sales of competing encryption systems, the government is trying to
> make it difficult for any alternative schemes to become widespread. 

PGP is free for individual use -- you mean the government is going to
*pay me* to use Clipper?

> people who buy a nonstandard system might find themselves with an 
> untappable phone but no one to call.

Except those who buy the same phone.

> "The crypto genie is out of the bottle," says Steven Levy, who is writing
> a book about encryption. If that's true, even the NSA may not have the
> power to put it back.

Never was in the bottle, just no one cared -- the corporate landscape
is filled with the corpses and struggling small companies who thought
that people did. Anyone know how many commercial STU-IIIs were sold
last year?

When I get some Clippers/Capstones, *then* I'll make my decision as to
whether or not they are any good but I am getting bothered by all the
people who want to deny me that chance.


Warmer by the day,

Padgett

ps:

> In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich 
> Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of 

100,000,000 lemmings can't be wrong.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for pointing out that just maybe
{Time Magazine} has its own axes to grind in this matter. Not that this
Digest would ever be used to make some of my points perfectly clear, you
understand :) ... PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 07 Mar 94 10:00:38 EST
From: Alex Cena <acena@lehman.com>
Subject: Pair-Gain, ADSL, HDSL Information Needed


wood@odie.ee.wits.ac.za wrote:

> I am looking for infomation on pair-gain which is a technique of
> multiplexing (usually two) subscriber calls onto a single copper pair.
> The reason I need this information is that I wish to investigate if it
> could be used to improve the party line systems that we have in
> operation here in rural areas.

Try PairGain Technologies in Cerritos, CA  310-404-8811

dap@aber.ac.uk asked about Chips/Boards for ADSL or HDSL etc.

> I am attempting to locate information on availability and

Try PairGain Technologies 310-404-8811
    Brooktree  619-452-7580
    Level One  Based in Folsom, California (I do not have phone# handy)
> pricing for any chips/ evaluation boards/ products that support HDSL
> or ADSL ...
    Tellabs 708-969-8800
    Teltrend 708-377-1700


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

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

Date: Sun, 06 Mar 94 23:02 CST
From: Jim Thomas (tk0jut1@mvs.cso.niu.edu) 
Subject: Brian McCann of WLUP Encourages Telephone Harrassment


A comment on the one-ring telephone harassment:  A local Chicago talk
show personality (Brian McCann on WLUP's Sunday afternoon "comedy"
program) has encouraged listeners to "drive your friends crazy" with
one-ring phone calls. He thinks it's a "victory" if the harasser can
drive the victim to taking the phone of the hook so "they can't
receive those important calls." He spent this afternoon (6 March)
playing this game and exhorting others to do the same. The final
touch, he believed, was to eventually call back and play a Jim Nabors'
song ("You can't roller-skate in a Buffalo herd") to the victim. He
claimed that it was especially fun to do to people with celluar
phones.  If I recall, the name of the program is "The Sunday Funnies,"
which runs for a few hours each week.


Jim Thomas


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It sounds to me like it is time for
someone to circulate Brian McCann's home telephone number publicly.
Incidentally, the main switchboard for the business offices at WLUP is
312-440-5270. That is public information, it appears in the phone book
so there is nothing secret about it; all I am doing is saving my
readers the cost of a call to directory assistance. I cannot advocate
that people engage in the same harassing tactics that McCann proposes,
however you might want to voice your opinion to management at WLUP
about McCann and his games. Do not engage in tactics such as putting
312-440-5270 on a Demon Dialer or having a modem dial the number over
and over. Do not go to public toilets at the library, truck stop or
bus station and put up messages saying for a good time call Brian at
312-440-5270. Do not play the same games -- even though we know who
would win and who would lose, he being merely an amateur where these
games are concerned. Instead, in a responsible way, call and voice your
opinion to the program director and others at the station.  If it is
after business hours at the station, you may reach their voicemail,
but don't get abusive. If I happen to locate Brian McCann's home phone
number -- I'm sure all those dudes at WLUP keep their numbers non-pub --
I'll pass it along, since no doubt you'll want to counsel with him
in person. Remember now, no one-ring/hangup harassing calls! You privacy
freaks be sure to prepend *67 to your dialing string. Or since you are
calling 'the Loop - WLUP' use your favorite loop-arounds, etc.  By the
way, if anyone thinks of something else callers to WLUP should not do
 -- something I may have overlooked -- write and let us know.  PAT]

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

From: rmah@panix.com (Robert S. Mah)
Subject: Maps of LATA's in the US
Date: Mon, 07 Mar 1994 08:02:57 -0500
Organization: One Step Beyond


Is there an official (or non-official) source that lists the LATA's
for the United States?  Canada would be nice as well.  It would be of
_great_ help if things were sorted by exchange number, postal (i.e. ZIP)
codes or even on township/county lines.

I tried the FCC, but one hour of bounced calls only yielded frustruation.


Cheers,

Robert S. Mah   One Step Beyond     rmah@panix.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl Moore <cmoore@brl.mil> has quite a 
bit of this data. Maybe he will see your inquiry and respond after he
finishes on his call to WLUP.   PAT]

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

From: gc3@infinet.com (George Cifrancis)
Subject: Need TAP/IXO For Alpha Pagers
Date: 7 Mar 1994 14:02:07 GMT
Organization: InfiNet - Internet Access (614/268-3639)


Hi folks,

I am looking for any info on the TAP (Telelocator Alphanumeric Input
Protocol) or something called IXO.

These are used for sending out alphanumeric messages on certain kinds
of pagers.  And I need the info to write my own programs.


George Cifrancis III  LV  | Programmer/Analyst/System Administrator|
Columbus, Ohio USA  //3DO | Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation   |
gc3@infinet.com   \X/AMIGA| MIS - Wide Area Net Support (AT&T/SUN) |


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Try the Telecom Archives. Use anonymous
ftp lcs.mit.edu then after logging in, 'cd telecom-archives/technical'.
All the IXO stuff is in there.   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 8 Mar 1994 10:51:41 GMT
From: nazikian@DaVinci.mty.itesm.mx (Franck Nazikian)
Subject: Need Help With Minitel Files


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The following was recieved in my mail
today. Can anyone help this fellow out?  Printed below as I received 
it.   PAT]

CII ITESM
Franck NAZIKIAN
Sucursal de Correos "J"
MONTERREY N.L. 64849
MEXICO
Tel: (52-8)-358-20-00 exts.50-76
Fax: (52-8)-328-40-81
Internet: nazikian@davinci.mty.itesm.mx

    I tried several times to use the software of the Minitel you put
on the internet network (followimg the given instructions to unpack
it), and I could "uudecode" it, but I could not uncompress it; the
following sentence then appeared on my computer screen:

$ uncompress minitel.tar.Z
uncompress: 0653-059 The input file contains bad data; SIGSEGV signal received.

    What should I do to solve my problem?

Best regards, 


Franck NAZIKIAN

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

End of TELECOM Digest V14 #117
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