TELECOM Digest     Sat, 13 Nov 93 15:36:30 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 756

Inside This Issue:                        Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

   Re: Macintosh Software for NIST (Linc Madison)
   Re: Macintosh Software for NIST (John Pescatore)
   Re: Macintosh Software for NIST (Charlie Mingo)
   Re: Macintosh Software for NIST (John R. Bruni)
   Re: No ISDN Despite Big Talk (William Bauserman)
   Re: Crummy Service in NY (Timothy H. O'Hara)
   Re: Crummy Service in NY (Brendan M. O'connor)
   Re: Crummy Service in NY (Dave Niebuhr)
   Re: Crummy Service in NY (Nathaniel Polish)
   Re: What is Transpac? (Philippe Devaux)
   Re: What is Transpac? (Neil R. Henry)
   Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications (Nathan Lane)
   Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications (Andrew Klossner)
   Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications (Lukas Zahas)
   Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications (David A. Kaye)
   Re: Earthquake Preparedness (Steve Forrette)
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From: [email protected] (Linc Madison)
Subject: Re: Macintosh Software for NIST
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1993 12:55:33 GMT


Eli S Bingham ([email protected]) wrote:

> The October 1993 issue of BYTE Magazine mentions that you can access
> the NIST atomic clock through the Internet at address 132.163.135.130
> (time_a.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov). However, our computer center is
> Macintosh oriented and I cannot find software to set the Mac's clock
> through this address (or, for that matter, through the more accurate
> telephone connection). Can someone suggest MacTCP compatible software
> for this? Or am I going to have to write it myself?

I have no information on doing this by MacTCP on an Internet
connection, but there is a very good freeware application for setting
the Macintosh clock over a dial-up connection to NIST or other time
source.  It's called "Set Clock" by Jim Leitch (Leitch Video Int'l),
and it's available by anonymous FTP from sumex-aim.stanford.edu in the
file info-mac/util/set-clock-33.hqx.  The program makes a modem
connection for about ten seconds (at 300 or 1200 bps) to your choice
of atomic clocks in Toronto, Washington, or Boulder.  It even has
built-in support for modem strings to allow high-speed modems to
connect at 300 bps.


Linc Madison  *  Oakland, California  *  LincMad@{Netcom | AOL}.com

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

From: [email protected] (John Pescatore)
Subject: Re: Macintosh Software for NIST
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1993 07:58:24 -0500
Organization: Rockville, MD


In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(Eli S Bingham) wrote:

> The October 1993 issue of BYTE Magazine mentions that you can access
> the NIST atomic clock through the Internet at address 132.163.135.130
> (time_a.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov). However, our computer center is
> Macintosh oriented and I cannot find software to set the Mac's clock
> through this address (or, for that matter, through the more accurate
> telephone connection). Can someone suggest MacTCP compatible software
> for this? Or am I going to have to write it myself?

> [Moderator's Note: Would someone like to summarize a bit more from the
> article and explain how the clock is accessed through that address?
> Is there a certain special login one would use, or would one telnet
> to a given socket on that machine, or?   Thanks.   PAT]

I am using NetworkTime 2.0 by Pete Resnick. It works great on our
network, where we have a Sun with one of those WWV time receivers
attached. I tried it using the NIST address and it works even better!

I have no idea how it works from a telnet point of view, NetworkTime
is a control panel device for the Mac. I also have no more info on
NetworkTime, it was installed on a Mac that I inherited at work. Doing
a Get Info doesn't get me any more info.


John Pescatore WB2EKK   GTE Government Systems
Rockville, MD    [email protected]


[Moderator's Note: I'd like to know if one can get the time signal
sent over the telnet connection in the same way one gets the time
signal when calling the phone number for the service.   PAT]

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

From: [email protected] (Charlie Mingo)
Subject: Re: Macintosh Software for NIST
Date: 13 Nov 1993 04:11:55 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC


I haven't read the article, but I think I know what is being
described.

There is an Internet protocol known as NTP (for Network Time
Protocol).  An NTP client program (running on your Mac) telnets into a
special port on an NTP time server to obtain an accurate fix.

There are lots of NTP servers on the Internet other than this NIST
one.  For a complete listing, ftp to louie.udel.edu and look in the
/pub/ntp/docs folder for clock.txt.  You can probably find a site that
is closer to you than time_a.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov (the closer the
site, the more quickly the NTP server responds, and the more accurate
your time fix is).

You will need an NTP client for your Macs as well.  There are two
clients freely-distributed: network-time-201.hqx and macntp-10.hqx,
both of which can be found on sumex-aim.stanford.edu in info-mac/
comm/net (and on sumex mirror sites).

If you have a modem on your Mac, and would prefer to use a telephone
connection, then I strongly recommend AutoClock 1.4.  It will not only
call in to either the NIST or USNO machines in Boulder or Washington,
DC, but will also calculate the rate of drift of your Mac clock, so
that you are never more than about a second off.  The most recent
version also handles Daylight Savings Time for all countries in the
world.

AutoClock can be found on mac.archive.umich.edu:/mac/util/comm as
autoclock1.4.cpt.hqx.

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

Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 09:34:40 PST
From: John R. Bruni <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Macintosh Software for NIST


VersaTerm has a handy utility called "Time Client" that works great
for Macs.  It's a control panel that runs through MacTCP & can be run
automatically (or manually if you so chose.)  All you have to do is
enter the address of the time server you want to use.  No further
action is necessary.  The program does the rest.

Incidentally, there is a new version of MacTCP...v. 2.0.4 from Apple
.. it's supposedly still in test but I have had no problems with it.
It can be FTP'd from sumex-aim.stanford.edu.


[email protected]      a.k.a.: "Cowboy Buddha"    "Rocky"
San Francisco Engineering, Inc.
Non-disclaimer:  As a matter of fact I _do_ speak for the company!


[Moderator's Note: Are you one of the California Cowboys?  :)   PAT]

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

Date: 13 Nov 93 13:01:06 -0800
From: Bauserman, William <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: No ISDN Despite Big Talk


[email protected] (John Eichler) wrote:

> Apparently this is not only a problem in New York but elsewhere as
> well.  I guess the telephone companies are just sitting back waiting
> for the cable companies to be the first ones to bring high speed
> two-way digital communications technology into small businesses and
> homes.

> It's almost a 'catch-22' proposition.  The phone companies are slow to
> implement ISDN because there is little demand for it and the demand is
> waiting for the service to become available.  This is just another
> example of the difficult time we will have installing a nationwide
> 'information highway'.  I guess the only way to move the telephone
> companies is for tens of thousands of us little guys to keep asking
> them for ISDN until they wake up and realize that they are losing big
> bucks in not providing this vital service.

Well, here is my two cents worth: Don't forget that telco's are still
regulated.  I know of one "Consumer Protection" group that claims the
only reason a telco puts in fiber is to position itself for delivering
video to the home.

This group would actually complain to the PUC everytime it saw a fiber
job going in.

Granted, this is an idiotic extreme, but, the point is that as along
as network equipment is placed in the rate base, the telco should not
indiscriminately go out and spend loads of money on a service that
won't sell.  Notice I said "should not".

If you want it -- ask for it, just remember that you can't always get
what you want ... but, you just might find, you get what you need :^)


Bill Bauserman    [email protected]

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

From: [email protected] (Timothy H O'Hara)
Subject: Re: Crummy Service in NY
Organization: University at Buffalo
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1993 03:03:00 GMT


New York Tel. is always doing stupid stuff like this.

For example, when they rolled out CallerID/Call return in my CO (rural
community, Newfane NY (716) 778-####) they made a big deal about it.
They never really mentioned that we were one of the first exchanges in
the area to get the service -- and that both numbers needed to have
the service available.  Anybody I would want to use Repeat Dial (read
girlfriend) to call wouldn't do me any good anyway!

I'm glad my telephone dollars pay for all this slick Madison Avenue
advertising.


Tim O'Hara   [email protected]     SUNY Buffalo


[Moderator's Note: Please note, both *central offices* have to be
equipped for these services, but it is not necessary for both
*subscribers* to be equipped. If any one subscriber in an upgraded
CO is equipped to use the new features, s/he can use them in
calls to others in an upgraded CO regardless of the other person's
personal status.   PAT]

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

From: [email protected] (Brendan M O'connor)
Subject: Re: Crummy Service in NY
Date: 12 Nov 93 22:30:40 GMT
Organization: NYU Stern School of Business


In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Carl
Oppedahl) writes:

> My service comes from the "Second Avenue" central office in Manhattan.

Second Ave. has three switches: a small 5ESS (23,000+ lines), a large
DMS-100 (62,000+ lines) and a large 1AESS (67,000+ lines). (Local
rumor has it that this is the largest WIRED 1AESS in the U.S.)

You are obviously supported by the 1AESS.

> And only two of the twenty-five support ISDN.  That's actually better
> than many other central offices in Manhattan and elsewhere in the

ISDN is available to you if you are willing to change your number. If
not (and I can understand why you don't want to), you will have to
wait until your 1AESS is retired. Sad, but true.

> Oh, and there is no scheduled date for upgrading my telephone exchange
> to more modern equipment, according to the business office.

My Second Ave. engineer has just started work on the 1AESS retirement.
I'm not at liberty to announce its retirement date, but I assure you,
you will have access to all the services you are looking for. I
apologize for the fact that the business rep you contacted was not
aware of the upgrade plans.


boc.

These are my opinions. NYNEX and New York Telephone may have other opinions.


[Moderator's Note: No doubt everyone noticed that Brendan O'Connor's
initials also could be taken to mean 'Bell Operating Company'. Actually
Brendan, how do *we* know you are a real person and not just a figment
of the imagination of someone at NY Tel whose job it is to spread
propoganda around Usenet?  I'm a tool of AT&T you know; just yesterday
in email I got a note from some crackpot outlining everything I had
said in AT&T's favor over the last several years. His missive went on
for over 100,000 K of text, all manually typed in I think. I ought to
post the whole diatribe from him in news.groups with cross-postings to
several dozen other Usenet groups. That's how they get off, and who am
I to dictate if people should read or post to Usenet in the privacy of
their own homes.  :)  PAT]

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

Date: Sat, 13 Nov 93 07:05:45 EST
From: [email protected] (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: Crummy Service in NY


In TELECOM Digest V13 #751 [email protected] (Carl Oppedahl) wrote:

> Here I am in Manhattan, the telecommunications center of the world,
> where radio jingles say "We're All Connected, New York Telephone".
> Warm images of grandma talking to the beloved grandchildren ...
> high-powered financial traders moving millions of dollars while
> barking into speakerphones.  The White Pages urge us to sign up for
> Pathways (r) and Digipath (r) and Superpath (r) and Flexpath (r) and
> Infopath (r) and Switchway (r) and Intellipath (r), all high-powered,
> modern, digital, cutting-edge wave-of-the-future kinds of things.  You
> just pick up the phone and the breeze makes your hair flutter behind
> you ...

We're still getting those ditties on Long Island also since we receive
NY City radion and TV stations.

> Likewise I cannot sign up for Caller ID.  And I cannot use the automatic
> redial.

That happened on Long Island also (area code 516) last year.

> Kind of suprising I have even been able to use touch-tone phones all
> these years.

Remember though, that the original tone dialing was converted in the
CO to rotary/pulse via relays.  However, true touch tone has been
around for years and its capabilities should be exploited faster than
it has been.

> Oh, and I cannot get ISDN, either.

Same for Long Island.

> My service comes from the "Second Avenue" central office in Manhattan.
> It contains twenty-five exchanges, or a theoretical quarter of a
> million telephone lines.

My feeling is that NYTel should upgrade all switches at the same time
that are in the same CO unless there is a compelling need not to and I
don't think that other than certain agencies (police, shelters, etc.)
have a compelling need.

Carl mentioned, and I unfortunately deleted, a statement about
businesses moving to New Jersey.  I apologize.

Going further, it is not only the telcos, it is the electric/gas
companies and the horrendous taxes in the NY City Metropolitan Area in
those areas that are in NY State.


Dave Niebuhr      Internet: [email protected] (preferred)
                           [email protected] / Bitnet: niebuhr@bnl
Senior Technical Specialist, Scientific Computing Facility
Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton, NY 11973  (516)-282-3093

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

From: [email protected] (Nathaniel Polish)
Subject: Re: Crummy Service in NY
Date: 13 Nov 1993 11:11:58 -0500
Organization: Columbia University Department of Computer Science


Bitch, bitch, bitch.  It took me years to get to the point where I
could get a phone line from my apartment on 111th street to Columbia
on 116th street that would support a modem connection for more than five
minutes.  For most of that time the phone company's position was that
"voice grade" did not mean free from pops and clicks.  I am now very
very grateful that I can support a 14.4kbs channel for hours with no
errors almost all of the time.

It does, however, seem rather stupid for NYTel to spend a fortune
advertising services that will not be available for years.  I would
just bet that it will be so disruptive when they update the switch
that I will look back on the low-tech days as being days of simple
reliablility.

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

From: [email protected] (Philippe Devaux)
Subject: Re: What is Transpac?
Organization: The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 22:53:33 GMT


Philip Green ([email protected]) wrote:

> Can anyone tell me what Transpac is? A public network in France
> perhaps?  Thanks.

Transpac is a packet switching value added network (VAN) operated by
France Telecom, the French PTT organization.

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

From: [email protected] (Neil R. Henry)
Subject: Re: What is Transpac?
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 1993 07:40:29 GMT


Tranpac operates a public X.25 network in France.  In the last three
years they have been very aggressive in the UK market as well.  My
recollection is that they are (partially?) owned by France Telecom.

My UK contact is: Orion House, 5 Upper St. Martin's Lane London WC2H
9EA In town telephone numbers have changed but I list 44 71 379 4700
for the main number and 44 71 379 1404 for the FAX.


Philip Green   (MSc student) [email protected]
Department of Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand
2050 Wits, South Africa

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

Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 16:43:39 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications


> After the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the phone system in the Bay Area
> was approximately useless due to the extremely high load on the
> system.  It took minutes to get a dial tone, and so many calls came
> from out of the area that the LD carriers had to shut off incoming
> calls.

This is definitely true.  All of my relatives from all over the
country tried to call in.  Stupid, I would say, in a natural disaster.
It took about 90 seconds to get a dial tone in Alameda, near Oakland,
with gradually reduced time until about six hours after the earthquake
when dialtones were normal again (at least in Alameda).  In Daly City,
just south of San Francisco, dialtones took about two minutes.  In the
City itself, where power was out in most areas for at least two days,
it took several minutes.  Local calls were also subject to "all
circuits busy".

What I decided to do was make ONE LD call to a single relative out of
state.  Give that relative all the phone numbers of other relatives
(also out of state) and asked that that person relay the "we're all
okay" information, rather than having them clog up the phone system.

I will congratulate the phone company for keeping communications up.
It was an odd site from a hill in Daly City to see the ENTIRE city of
San Francisco dark, except for a very few lights on the tops of
buildings.  From a possibly unreliable source, I heard that in
downtown San Francisco, the phone exchanges actually have JET engines
running turbines to provide power during emergencies.  (Locally, the
phone company uses diesels, but I do not know the capacity).


Nathan Lane   Triicon Systems, Inc., Lompoc, CA

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

From: [email protected] (Andrew Klossner)
Subject: Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications
Date: 12 Nov 1993 00:28:24 GMT
Organization: Tektronix Color Printers, Wilsonville, Oregon
Reply-To: [email protected]


> "In approximately 1969 there was a serious earthquake in Santa
> Barbara, Calif., which damaged several telephone company central
> offices."

Do tell?  I lived in Santa Barbara throughout 1969, and noticed no
earthquake, serious or otherwise.

The Sylmar quake of 1971 was the first significant quake to hit Santa
Barbara in several years.


Andrew Klossner  ([email protected])

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

From: [email protected] (Lukas Zahas)
Subject: Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications
Date: 13 Nov 1993 05:00:19 GMT
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Reply-To: [email protected] (Lukas Zahas)


In article <[email protected]> [email protected] writes:

> It may have been the only one to affect the phone system physically
> (destruction of telecom facilities), but most earthquakes (and other
> natural disasters) bring the system to its knees with the overload of
> phone calls.  After the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the phone system in
> the Bay Area was approximately useless due to the extremely high load
> on the system.  It took minutes to get a dial tone, and so many calls
> came from out of the area that the LD carriers had to shut off
> incoming calls.

I've been told that after an earthquake, if you can't get a call
through, try using a payphone.  Supposedly, the phone company will
arbitrarily put some calls through and not others when the load is too
high, but payphone calls will always go through.  After the Loma
Prieta quake, we tried calling a high school teacher while reporting
for the school paper.  No one previously had been able to reach her
(calling SF from Oakland), but we did from a payphone, so it
apparently works.


Lukas Zahas        [email protected]


[Moderator's Note: Or else that particular payphone at that particular
time was one of the arbitrarily chosen phones to get a line out.  PAT]

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

From: [email protected] (David A. Kaye)
Subject: Re: Earthquakes and Telecommunications
Date: 13 Nov 1993 11:50:34 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access  (415) 705-6060  [login: guest]


ethan miller ([email protected]) wrote:

> phone calls.  After the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the phone system in
> the Bay Area was approximately useless due to the extremely high load
> on the system.  It took minutes to get a dial tone, and so many calls
> came from out of the area that the LD carriers had to shut off
> incoming calls.

However, the phone system STAYED UP!  I was managing a voicemail
company at the time and we did not lose anything.  Our DID lines were
remoted via another central office and thus they provided battery to
our system.  The battery didn't even go down.  Sure, it took awhile to
get a dialtone, but our pager dialout kept working and eventually got
through.  I understand, though that the power to some switching
offices was so long in coming back that some of Pacific Bell's were
actually draining battery from AT&T.

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

From: [email protected] (Steve Forrette)
Subject: Re: Earthquake Preparedness
Date: 13 Nov 1993 01:46:44 GMT
Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.
Reply-To: [email protected] (Steve Forrette)


In <[email protected]>, [email protected]
(russell sharpe) writes:

> In New Zealand, because of our geographical nature, on the border of
> the Pacific, and Austrailasion Plates, we are pretty conscious of
> earthquakes, and volcanoes.

> Here are some of the precautions we take.
>   - All switches are strongly bonded to the building with steel seismic
>     braces, so no equipment will have the tendency to fall over.

This reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago during a CO tour.
My guide related an earthquake story that happened at Pacific Bell.
They had installed some sort of adjunct processor to a DMS-100.  It
was a rackmounted unit, in a standalone cabinet about 8 feet high.  It
was placed in a temporary location, a few feet away from the older
unit that it was replacing.  This was a temporary location for it --
they needed to have the new unit in service before the old one could
be removed, and they were planning to do a "hot slide": that is, slide
the new one into position while it was running after the old one had
been removed.  As such, it was not bolted down to the ground, and
there were a few feet of extra length coiled in the ceiling wiring
tracks for all power and signalling cables.

With the equipment in this state, and earthquake occurred, and the new
unit fell over since it was not bolted down.  The thing is, since all
of the cables had enough extra slack that had uncoiled when it fell
over, nothing broke, and it was indeed still functioning perfectly and
in service.  Pacific Bell placed a call to Northern Telecom to enquire
as to what the recommended procedure was to upright the cabinet while
it was in service.  This reportedly took NT quite by surprise, as they
had never encountered or even thought of such a situation.  They
finally got back to them with instructions to lift it back to the
regular position by hand while leaving it in service, and to bolt it
down this time.


Steve Forrette, [email protected]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #756
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