Aucbvax.2996
fa.telecom
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!telecom
Tue Sep 8 05:00:30 1981
TELECOM Digest V1 #11
>From JSol@RUTGERS Tue Sep 8 00:13:53 1981
TELECOM AM Digest Sunday, 6 Sep 1981 Volume 1 : Issue 11
Today's Topics:
Foreign Exchange vs. Selective Calling
Voice Input Systems by Phone
Natural Disasters and Their Effects on Local Switching
AT&T and Data Processing - Recent FCC Rulings
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Date: 6 September 1981 01:42-EDT
From: Jonathan Alan Solomon <JSOL AT RUTGERS>
Subject: Foreign Exchange Service, Vs. Selective Calling
There seems to be a bit of confusion over terms here. Foreign Exchange
service is specifically service which originates in the city or town
you wish your local calling area to be. Usually these lines travel
over reserved Toll lines (2 pair separated transmit and receive), and
special arrangements are made to allow you to dial (if you use a dial
phone) calls from here over that line.
Selective calling, on the other hand, is the ability for a customer to
select his local calling area range (given usually in "zones"), with
the cheapest service having the smallest calling area. Normally this
service is made available to suburban areas who desire access to their
city on a local basis. The Boston area has this service (called
"Metropolitan" service) which allows the surrounding areas to call
Boston as a local call. With ESS this is a simple twiddling of bits in
your "phone line status word" (similar to the priviledge word for an
account on many computers), Crossbar and Step Switching usually
requires some mechanical set of jumpers which permits you to dial
these calls as a local call (i.e. without prefixing it with a "1").
Sometimes Phone Companies simply tell you to place the call as if it
was a toll call, and then they will bill you at some smaller rate or
at flat rate, in which case you only need to tell the local final
billing computer not to include these calls on your bill.
/Jsol
------------------------------
Date: 5 September 1981 02:34-EDT
From: Eliot R. Moore <ELMO MIT-MC AT>
Foreign exchange service is a nice thing, and here in Los Angeles it
is offered extensively - a customer in an outlying suburb can easily
get L.A. Metro service. In the case of the Metro service, many
exchanges have an entire prefix or prefixes reserved solely for
foreign exchange service from one CO to Los Angeles. There is some
form of mileage fee associated, but it is not the normal $1.60 per
quarter mile. (A normal phone is $6.00/mo, LA service is $11.70) For
other areas, I assume the rates differ slightly. There is also normal
foreign exchange service, which I also have. A lot of people use it
to hop across telephone companies. I live in Pacific (Bell), but I
have a GTE phone...[yes, one does do that]
Since your handset is still going through your local C.O., and mine is
all crossbar, I would assume [cautiously] that the service will
function on step equipment also.
As for what good it will do you... A while back the CPUC (California
Public Utilities Commission) came up with a wonderous toll system
called ZUM (Zone Usage Measurement) in which all calls within an 8
mile radius of a specified point were designated Zone 1, 12 miles Zone
2, and 16 miles Zone 3. Beyond that is intra-city long distance.
Zone one calls are "local", costing 3 cents for the first minute and 1
cent each minute thereafter, or nothing on unlimited service. Zone 2
and 3 are 5/3 and 7/4 respectively. A 35% discount applies 5PM-11PM
and a 60% discount applies 11PM-8AM.
This is all fine and dandy, however many of us are used to calling
places 40 miles away for free... ZUM, however, has in mind to shrink
our local calling areas drastically. For those of us who still need
to make calls to far away areas frequently would opt for ORTS
(flat-rate calling to a specified C.O. within 40 miles) but the CPUC
changed that too... its now usage-sensitive.
The last resort is paying mileage fees to faraway exchanges. This was
also fine and dandy up until August 29, 1981; at that time, all flat
rate foreign exchange service was frozen in Pacific Telephone. Now if
one gets an FX phone, it is usage-sensitive... you pay per minute,
which is the ultimate goal of our beloved Commission. [My last one
was installed August 23rd]
FX service is a good buy if it costs you less per month than the other
available services. Most importantly, steer clear of usage sensitive
pricing...
Maybe Lauren or IHM can put it in better prospective...
Eliot
------------------------------
Date: 4 Sep 1981 23:55:21-PDT
From: decvax!duke!unc!smb at Berkeley
In-real-life: Steven M. Bellovin
Location: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Subject: voice-input computer systems
The Fidelity group of mutual funds uses a voice-input system to give
the current yields on their various funds. You dial their 800 number
(allegedly up 24 hours a day; it's answered the phone exactly twice
when I've tried it), and recite (one at a time) the two-digit code for
the fund you're interested in. You can make up to three queries in
one call. It's error detection isn't too good; it treated "gibble" as
a digit, though I don't recall which one....
------------------------------
Date: 5 Sep 1981 0824-EDT
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV AT DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Foreign exchange service - the real way & the Maryland hack
Foreign exchange service is available just about everywhere in
the country -- where facilities permit (the standard proviso).
The physical connection differs depending on how far away the
exchange is from you. I have a foreign exchange line here
which is provided from the next town; it is provided by using a
real pair of wires in the interoffice cable, plus a two-wire
repeater (the model E6 is a commonly used one).
On a much longer distance FX the circuit will be converted to
a four-wire circuit and will be put up through carrier (i.e.
multiplexed along with all the other long distance traffic)
then converted back to two wire (either in the CO or on the
premises where the phone is located).
Each of these circuits is individually "engineered," as the
telephone company will explain when they are late installing
one for you.
HOWEVER, the service which is provided in the Maryland suburbs
between Washington and Baltimore is drastically different. In
this case, what you get is a plain, vanilla line from your local
CO. But a special NXX is reserved for customers who have this
service. For LOCAL area calling, this NXX is "declared to be in
a different town" and you pay a special mileage charge from your
town to that town. It is somewhat lower than the mileage charges
which you would incur if they were providing real FX service.
For interstate calls, the exchange is still declared to be where
it really is.
Since you have a special NXX, you can both make and receive calls
as though you were located in the foreign exchange. So this is
quite different than, for example, Metro service offered to
Concord, Mass. customers which allows them to make calls to the
whole Metro area, but doesn't give a break to any incoming calls.
------------------------------
Date: Saturday, 5 Sep 1981 10:03-PDT
To: Telecom at MIT-AI
Subject: Los-Angeles Earthquake & Telephones
From: nomdenet at RAND-UNIX
The Southern California earthquake, Friday (9/4) at 8:51 a.m.,
disrupted the telephone system somewhat. Home at the time and not
worried because the quake seemed minor, 5-10 minutes later I picked up
my telephone to make a data connection to work -- but no dial tone.
Finally, after 5-10 seconds, I got a dial tone. Intrigued, I tried
taking the receiver off hook a few times, and encountered delays in
this same 5-10 second neighborhood. Once I got tone, my call went
through with no further problems.
The February, 1971, earthquake also affected the telephone system.
(Lauren, didn't you write in Human-Nets that TPC had to "turn off" the
213 area to incoming calls?)
From those who follow the various Bell publications, I would
appreciate hearing about anything written concerning the earthquake's
disruption. Reply to the mailing list if appropriate (OK, JSol?),
otherwise to me.
A. R. White
Nomdenet @ Rand-UNIX
[Sure - if there are too many of them I may send them out in a
supplementary issue -JSOL]
------------------------------
Date: 5 Sep 1981 12:24:20-PDT
From: ihuxl!jej at Berkeley
Subject: Touch-Tone vs. Dial Pulse
I doubt that this is a complete answer, but in the book *The Biggest
Company on Earth*, it is mentioned that it is easier for subhumans
to commit mayhem on dial coin phones by prying off the dial; hence
some justification for a switch from dial to Touch-Tone pay phones.
James Jones (ihuxl!jej)
------------------------------
Date: 5 Sep 1981 14:06:36-PDT
From: IngVAX.geoff at Berkeley
Subject: Judge Approves AT&T Expansion
Copyright (C) 1981, Washington Post Company, Saturday, September 5, 1981
A federal judge yesterday gave American Telephone and Telegraph
Co. permission to compete for the first time in the computer and
data-processing business -- a ruling that could have an explosive
impact on the future of the telecommunications industry.
Handing the Communications giant a major victory in its bid to
enter lucrative new business areas, Judge Vincent P. Biunno of the
U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled that AT&T could offer
data-processing because it is a communications service.
Under a consent decree AT&T signed with the government 25 years
ago, the company has been barred from offering any noncommunications
service. Until yesterday's ruling, that meant AT&T could not offer
computer services.
"It seems to the court beyond dispute that AT&T ... will be
engaging in the business of furnishing communications services and
facilities" by providing data-processing services, Biunno wrote. The
ruling was handed down from the New Jersey court because that was here
the original 1956 consent decree was filed.
The decision means that beginning as early as March 1, AT&T will
be able to become a direct competitor with International Business
Machines Corp. and other major computer companies.
What's more, the Bell System will be able to offer a wide variety
of telephone equipment and services, ranging from the black
rotary-dial phone to highly sophisticated computer services, without
any of the government pricing restraints it now must follow.
The judge's decision, however, by no means puts to rest the
current congressional debate over AT&T's future structure and its role
in the telecommunications industry. Congress is considering
legislation to allow AT&T to offer data communications services,
although it would bar the communications giant from offering
electronic newspapers and up-to-the minute advertising. Debate on the
issue is expected to continue shortly after Congress returns from its
August recess.
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest
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