TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Nov 93 00:32:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 768
Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson
Canadian Govt Database Updates (Tyson Macaulay)
Query For Network Designers on a LAN/WAN Problem (Dean Pentcheff)
Serial Protocol For NT TCM/MPDA (Bill Riess)
GSM Interference (was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?) (Erik Ramberg)
Custom Cable Makers? (David Morgenstern)
Mobilnet Pushing Credit Card Verification Over Cellular (Barry Lustig)
Fiber Amplifiers and Solitons (Fred Bertsch)
Terse 800 Failure ... Oh My! (Scott M. Pfeffer)
Compression With ISDN (Roger Fajman)
Watch Those Memos: TCI Memo Text (Reed Vance)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 15:54:13 EST
From: Tyson=Macaulay%DTP%
[email protected]
Subject: Canadian Govt Database Updates
***** ATTACHMENT: G:\DATABASE\00ANNOU.N18 *****
Latest additions to
Industry and Science Canada's Internet database
*******************
Dernieres additions a la base de donnees Internet
Industrie et Sciences Canada
All files are available via anonymous ftp gopher and listserv unless
otherwise stated.
Tous les fichiers sont accessibles par le truchement de la commande
GOPHER ou LISTSERV du protocole de transfert de fichier (ftp) anonyme,
sauf indications contraires.
Anonymous ftp to debra.dgbt.doc.ca /pub/isc
Gopher to debra.dgbt.doc.ca port 70
If you Gopher into the database a WAIS search-engine is available to
scan the entire database for keywords. Do to the large number of
files this is the recommended approach -- if available.
Si vous entrez dans la base de donnees a l'aide de la commande Gopher,
une ressource de recherche WAIS permet de rechercher des mots cles
dans toute la base de donnees. En raison du grand nombre de fichiers,
voici l'approche recommandee, s'il y a lieu.
Send Listserv commands to
[email protected] with the command
/ Lancez les commandes Listserv a Listservdebra.dgbt.doc.ca a l'aide
de la commande
get isc 00readme
in the body of the message/ a l'interieur du message. This file will
give more details about listserv access. / Ce fichier vous permet
d'obtenir plus de details sur l'acces a listserv.
New files in /pub/isc:
*** Insight.zip
Information Technology Statistical Review 1993 /
Revue statistique de 1993 sur la technologie de l'information
This is a software package contaning IT information for the Canadian
and US IT industries in hypertext format. This program is to run on
PC and requires about 9 megs of free disk space. Instructions for
installation and running are included in the zip file:
Il s'agit d'un progiciel qui contient des renseignements sur la
technologie de l'information (TI) pour les industries de la TI au
Canada et aux Etats-Unis, en format hypertexte. Ce programme tourne
sur les PC et necessite quelque 9 Mo d'espace disque. Les
instructions d'installation et d'execution sont incluses dans le
fichier comprime (zip);
Be sure to decompress this file using the command / Prenez soin
de decomprimer ce fichier a l'aide de la commande:
pkunzip -d insight.zip
*** privacy.protection.in.telecommunications.english
This file is concerned with the privacy implications of
telecommunications services made possible by new technology and market
changes. Its particular focus is that privacy issues should be dealt
with as a telecommunications-specific matter, taking into account the
need to balance the cost against the benefits of telecommunications
service innovations. The paper proposes that privacy principles be
developed through a public consultation process, and implementedon by
the telecommunications carriers and service providers.
*** protection.privee.telecommunications.francais
Ce fichier a trait aux repercussions de la Loi sur la protection des
renseignements personnels en matiere de services de telecommunication,
protection maintenant possible grace a la nouvelle technologie et aux
changements qui caracterisent les marches. Il permet, notamment,
d'assurer que les questions relatives a la protection des
renseignements personnels soient traitees strictement dans le contexte
des telecommunications, et de tenir compte de la necessite de trouver
le juste equilibre entre les couts et les avantages des innovations
dans le domaine des services de telecommunications. Dans cette
communication, nous proposons que les principes regissant la
protection des renseignements personnels soient elabores dans le cadre
d'un processus de consultation, puis mis en oeuvre par les entreprises
de telecommunications et les fournisseurs de services.
*** isc.programs.english
This file contains information about the various government programs
available from ISC to aid in technology development by the private
sector in Canada. All documents are available in English and French.
*** programmes.isc.francais
Ce fichier contient des renseignements sur les divers programmes
gouvernementaux offerts par ISC, destines au developpement
technologique par le secteur prive au Canada. Tous les documents sont
disponibles en anglais et en francais.
*** videotheque.library.english
This is a catalogue of the video library that ISC makes available to
the private sector in Canada for free. All files are in both English
and French. An order-form file is included individually.
*** videotheque.bibliotheque.francais
Il s'agit d'un catalogue de la videotheque qu'ISC met gratuitement a
la disposition du secteur prive au Canada. Tous les fichiers sont
disponibles en anglais et en francais. Un fichier de formules de
commande y est inclus.
In addition to these new files in /pub/isc there are three new
subdirectories with several hundred files, these directories are only
available via anonymous ftp and gopher.
Outre ces nouveaux fichiers dans /pub/isc, trois nouveaux
sous-repertoires sont associes a plusieurs centaines de fichiers; ces
repertoires ne sont accessibles que par le truchement des commandes
ftp et gopher anonymes.
/pub/isc/technology.networking.guide
The **Technology Networking Guide -- Canada** documents Canadian
private and public sector technology information sources, services,
programs and contacts. These files are intended to aid Canadian
business in the location of technology expertise, assistance and
opportunities which will create new business and help the expansion of
existing industries.
Le **Guide de la gestion de la technologie en reseau - Canada**
documente les sources d'informations technologiques des secteurs
public et prive au Canada, les services, les programmes et les
ressources qui s'y rattachent. Le but de ces fichiers est d'aider les
entreprises canadiennes a recenser l'expertise technologique, a
obtenir l'assistance necessaire et a repertorier les possibilites de
creation de nouvelles affaires, tout en contribuant a l'expansion des
industries existantes.
/pub/isc/isc.publications.english
This directory contains a list of publications sponsored by the
department of Industry and Science Canada. The publications are
arranged chronologically according to sector area. Information for
obtaining each publication is made available along with the abstract.
/pub/isc/publications.isc.francais
Ce repertoire contient une liste de publications parrainees par
Industries et Sciences Canada. Les publications sont classees dans un
ordre chronologique, par sujet. Le resume fourni contient les
renseignements de commande de chaque publication.
Questions or comments should be addressed to:
Veuillez faire parvenir tous commentaires ou questions a
l'attention de:
Tyson Macaulay
Internet Applications Consultant
Industry and Science Canada
7th Floor, Journal Tower North
300 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C8
(613) 993 7882
e-mail / courrier electronique:
[email protected]
[email protected]
File updated / Mise a jour de fichier: Nov 18, 1993
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Dean Pentcheff)
Subject: Query For Network Designers on a LAN/WAN Problem
Date: 18 Nov 1993 14:01:49 -0500
Organization: Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia
I'm working at the University of South Carolina in the Biological
Sciences Department. We've begun to explore the possibilities of
setting up a network to provide scientific information and images to
secondary schools in the state. The idea is to provide a network for
teachers and students to correspond, and also to provide some Internet
access (via such tools as Mosaic for Windows and Usenet News).
The original plan was very simple: one computer per school with a
high-speed modem. There are about eight schools involved, so we
figured on a modem bank on this end with eight modems. They'd dial in
and get connected to our host machine and use SLIP for TCP/IP
connectivity. Fine.
Then, in talking with the teachers, it became evident that we had to
set up multiple machines per school (essentially one per science/math
classroom) or the whole thing would be sort of useless. Now we're in
over our heads and need some help to think about this.
I'm assuming that the basic way to go about this would be to set up a
LAN at each school (perhaps 10Base2 Ethernet cards in each computer
since that's what I'm familiar with). I assume there's a way to link
that network with our host at USC. What do we need? We're pretty
clueless.
I'm assuming that we need something like the following:
School _Some flavor of phone line
PC--| /
PC--| /
PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--|-Magic Box 2--Campus net
PC--| | or our host
PC--| |
|
School |
PC--| |
PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--|
|
School |
PC--| |
PC--|--Magic Box 1--Modem?--*--Modem?--|
I don't know what "Magic Box 1" is. Are there devices that can can be
directly hooked up to an Ethernet and relay packets to a remote site
(bridge?). What type of phone line is appropriate? Is it possible to
do this on a dialup line or is that a stupid idea? If so, what sort
of leased line would be appropriate (keeping in mind that the cost of
this _must_ be low).
What's needed on our end? A modem for each incoming line? There must
be another "Magic Box" on the other end - do we need just one (as
diagrammed), or do we need one for each incoming phone line? How are
those connected to the campus network? Or would we connect directly
to our host?
You see how lost we are?
What are good sources of information on this sort of thing?
Alternately, if there's someone out there who does this sort of thing
professionally, I'd be extremely appreciative if you'd let me give you
a call and pick your brain for 15 minutes. I suspect that to people
in the networking biz, this is a pretty trivial thing to set up. Our
problem is that we don't have the background to even begin to assess
the multitude of possibilities.
Thanks for any info or leads you can send me!
N. Dean Pentcheff
Biological Sciences, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia SC 29208 (803-777-8998)
Internet addresses:
[email protected] or
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Serial Protocol For NT TCM/MPDA
Organization: Swiss Bank Corporation CM&T Division
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 23:10:08 GMT
We are trying to interface a Northern Telecom phone to some of our
computer applications in a Non-PC/MAC environment (ie: does NOT
compete with NT's VISIT products). We may implement some VISIT-like
features, but Northern Telecom says they have "no plans" to do
anything in our envivonment.
I have talked (at length) to Northern Telecom about the serial
protocol used between their Meridian Programmable Data Adapter (MPDA)
and the attached device (PC, Workstation, whatever.) This apparently
is the same as used by their Meridian TelAdaptor TCM. This is the
protocol a PC running VISIT Voice or VISIT Video uses to "talk" to the
phone, controlling the various features and functions.
The manual that comes with the TCM or MPDA does have some simple "AT"
commands for control, but there is a "transparent" mode (activaed with
"ATTSP!") that allows for access to the RAW SIGNALLING between the PBX
and phone and "is used by some special software applications". This
mode is used by the VISIT products.
It seems Northen Telecom is rather secretive about how this stuff
works, even though AT&T and Rolm publish and distribute equivalent
information for their respective equipment. NT actually has the
documentation, it is called "The TCM Loop Series (2616) Aeries Subset
of x.11 Commands", Northern Document F2K90AC, but they are unwilling
and/or unable to release it.
My frustration makes me want to just reverse-engineer the protocol,
which appears straight-forward, as I have done a similar thing
previously. However, I'd rather spend my time more productively.
Which leads me to my questions:
Does anyone out there have documentation on this Protocol?
OR
Can you tell me how to obtain it?
OR
Can you suggest someone who does/can?
OR
Do you have an other approaches/ideas?
Thanks!
Bill Riess
Swiss Bank Corp.
141 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago Illinois
Phone: +1 312 554 5150 FAX: +1 312 554 5030
E-Mail:
[email protected]
The opinions expressed above are NOT those of Swiss Bank Corp.,
and I will likely disavow they are mine if confronted.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Erik Ramberg)
Subject: GSM Interference (was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?)
Date: 18 Nov 1993 21:39:46 GMT
Organization: ESL Inc.
In article <
[email protected]>,
[email protected]
(David Hough) wrote:
> As any radio amateur worth his salt will know, 100% amplitude
> modulation of a signal with what amounts to a square wave is bound to
> cause problems. Still, look at it the other way: now we have something
> else to blame when the TV picture breaks up into a mass of
> interference :-)
Huh?!? GSM uses GMSK, i.e. MSK with a Gaussian window. TDMA uses
DQPSK, or a quaternary form of phase shift keying. Both of these
formats are designed to fit within the channel bandwidth and are very
different from the AM that you discribe. Though I'm sure nobody
really knows what's to blame for the interference, if anything it's
some strange intermod problem rather than directly attributal to the
move to a TDMA type system.
Erik
Nothing that I say can be construed as the opinion of my employer.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (David Morgenstern)
Subject: Custom Cable Makers?
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 17:00:51 GMT
I've used one of these Radio Shack devices to tape record phone calls
in the past (nothing nefarious). I would split the line and one side
would go to the phone and the other to the tape recorder with the help
of a little switch box with cables.
But here's the problem. I'm working now in a place with a Meridian
system, which won't let me do this. I would guess that if I could
split the handle then I could do this. What I need is a special cable
(with a bunch of capacitors and whatever) to divide the handle cable,
with one side going to the handle, and the other to a regular tape
recorder line in plug. Or second best, an adaptor for the device I
already own ...?
Does anyone know of some places that could do this kind of work? And
how much? Or if you've seen it already done in a catalog?
Please reply to
[email protected].
Thanks,
David Morgenstern,
[email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 93 18:57:08 -0500
From: Barry Lustig <
[email protected]>
Subject: Mobilnet Pushing Credit Card Verification Over Cellular
Organization: ICTV Systems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (408) 562-9200
In the "Quality Talk" newsletter issued with my latest bill from GTE
Mobilnet bill was an article titled "New Mobile Merchant Captures More
Sales". The article goes on to describe a product from Verifone that
allows merchants to do credit card capture and authorization in the
"field". Unfortunately, they don't mention anything about whether or
not card numbers go out over the air in the clear. When will these
folks start dealing with the reality of cellular snooping.
barry
[Moderator's Note: The 'reality of cellular snooping' is that there
really isn't much of it and what there is is considerably overrated.
Relatively few people bother doing it, although lots of people are
excited at first knowing they can do it with their modified scanner,
etc. Then after a week or less of listening to others, when they
realize that unlike a soap opera they listen to on television, the
calls they pick up on the scanner will be there a few seconds or a
minute and drop off as soon as the tower they are monitoring passes
the call, they get bored. Their scanner flips endlessly through 832
channels, hitting the same conversations over and over that they do
not want to hear, so they have to reach over and step it up a
channel to start the scan process again; then when one that does sound
interesting comes along, its there a few seconds and the tower passes
it off; finding where (what channel) it moved to is anyone's guess,
and the folks sit there scanning and trying to follow it, but give
up. As noted, after a week or so they get tired of the game and go
back to listening to their local police frequencies, or other stable
conversations where the radio either talks or remains silent but they
don't have to keep stepping past stuff they don't want and chasing
after what they find mildly interesting. The nature of how cellular
phones work does not make them all that easy a target for repeated
and constant listening to any one phone by any one snoop, etc where
scanners are concerned.
But what about the professional con-artist you say? The one who uses
special equipment to capture ESN data (as one example) and install it
in other phones? What real use do you think he has of your credit
card number, particularly when he does not have your name and address
to go along with it? Is he going to do a phone order for merchandise
and have it come to *his* address to be signed for? People who wish
to fraudulently use the credit of others want the *plastic* to present
to merchants in a situation where the merchandise can be carried
away on the spot. They don't like leaving audit trails; messy things
like ANI records of their 800 call; a UPS delivery record of a package
signed for by 'someone' in their residence, etc.
The fleeting second or two that a credit card number is recited over a
cellular phone poses no greater risk than the fleeting second or two
you are punching digits at a cash station machine (for example) which
has a hardwired landline phone to the bank's computer. Do you have
equal concerns about the possibility -- quite remote -- that someone
is tapping a multiple on the pair between the cash station and the
bank to pick up tidbits of information regards card numbers and PINS?
The chance of your credit card number getting abused by someone
plucking it off the airwaves without your name, address and PIN to go
along with it is equally remote. At least at the cash station, your
account number and PIN are put in the machine and transmitted; is that
a better deal to you?
Phreaks being phreaks, they will always manage to rip some people off.
But to *not* use cellular phones for card verification in remote
settings (like an outside flea market for example) would drive the
cost of credit higher than it already is, forcing everyone to pay
more. The credit granters would rather take a risk on an occassional
-- very occassional, very rare, INHO -- fraud by an opportunistic
person who just happened to be tuned in scanning, just happened to
land on the channel handling your call; just happened to have a pen
and paper handy and just happened to have a criminal mindset all at
the same time that your credit card number was passed. I agree. PAT]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Fred Bertsch)
Subject: Fiber Amplifiers and Solitons
Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1993 00:07:54 GMT
I've heard that AT&T already has some Er doped fiber amplifiers in
some terrestrial lines, and next year they plan two submarine cabels
using them. Are other telecom carriers far behind? It seems as
though the technology should be significantly cheaper than recons-
tructing the signal electronically.
How about solitons? I seem to remember that NTT managed to generate
them. Is that true? Anyone else?
Fred
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Scott M. Pfeffer)
Subject: Terse 800 Failure ... Oh My!
Date: 19 Nov 93 02:25:28 GMT
Organization: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
After reading an article about Ascend Corp. in this newsgroup I called
the number listed in the article after hours. To make a long story
short, the recording at Ascend gave an 800 number to call for customer
service ...
I called the number, but accidently misdialed:
1 800 272-3631
as opposed to the number I should have ...
In any event, I got the following:
One ring.
"Click"
High-paid male announcer's voice saying
"A system error has occurred. Goodbye."
"Click"
Delay
Dialtone.
Time: 8:10 pm
From: St. Louis
Date: 11/16/93
Weird. I wonder who the carrier was ...? I wonder where the problem
was ...?
I wonder what this world has come to ...? Reminds me of the old days when
terse young men used to serve as operators (way before any of us were
cognitive human beings ...)
Scott Pfeffer Information Services, Southwestern Bell Telephone
[Moderator's Note: I just got the same message by trying the number
now from Chicago. It is not a carrier recording, it is a customer's
recording, probably from a voicemail system misprogrammed. PAT]
------------------------------
From: Roger Fajman <
[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 21:09:02 EST
Subject: Compression With ISDN
> While some modem purveyors are claiming much faster speeds, these are
> the result of data compression which works just as well over ISDN as
> over a modem. If you stick to apple-apples comparisons it's still 128
> Kbps vs. 28 Kbps and that's a big difference by any measure.
Yes, of course it's true that it's possible to do compression over
ISDN. But is it practical today? As far as I know, there is no
standard way of doing compression over ISDN and that ISDN terminal
adapters sold today generally do not have compression. True or not
true? If not, please mention some manufacturers and model numbers.
Roger Fajman Telephone: +1 301 402 4265
National Institutes of Health BITNET: RAF@NIHCU
Bethesda, Maryland, USA Internet:
[email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1993 13:43:52 CST
From: Reed Vance <
[email protected]>
Subject: Watch Those Memos: TCI Memo Text
This is supposedly the text of the infamous TCI Memo. This was passed to
me from someone on the telecomreg Listserv:Telecomreq LISTSERV.
To: Multiple recipients of list <
[email protected]>
Subject: TCI MEMO TEXT
Here's the full text of the memo from TCI Cable COO Barry Marshall to
the troops:
As we move into the regulatory environment, it's important to remember
something vital ... under regulation, we can't simply adjust our
economics anymore. We have to take the revenue from the sources that
we can, when we can. To that end I want to remind each of you that the
transaction charges for upgrades, downgrades, customer-caused service
calls, VCR hookups, etc. are vital new revenue sources to us. We
estimate that by charging for these functions we can recover almost
half of what we're losing from rate adjustments.
We have to have discipline. Much like the install fee problem, we
cannot be dissuaded from the charges simply because customers object.
It will take a while but they'll get used to it ... they pay it to
other service providers all the time ... and it isn't free with the
phone company!
Please hang in on this and installs, and we can still have a great
fourth quarter when we have our heaviest volume. The best news of all
is, we can blame it on reregulation and the government now. Let's take
advantage of it!
Reed Vance Irving, TX USA
[email protected]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V13 #768
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