TELECOM Digest     Tue, 14 Dec 93 11:42:00 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 818

Inside This Issue:                        Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

   Gold Card: New Calling Card For Business Travelers (TELECOM Moderator)
   Businesses Should Beware of Phone Fraud During Holiday Season (Nigel Allen)
   International Internet Association (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
   New: RADIO-L - Digital Audio Broadcasting - DAB (Ronald Lee Stone)
   X.32 Dial-up Access (Stewart Fist)
   Miscellaneous Questions Before Leaving For China (John T. Ellis)
   Area Codes *and* Prefixes (Doug Krause)
   Caller ID Project in Electronics Now (Feb. 94) (David Leibold)
   Caller ID Terms Can be Confusing (Stewart Fist)
   Cox Cable to Compete With US West (Advertising Age via [email protected])
   Scaling (Was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?) (Paul Robinson)
   Shared 800 Telephone Numbers (Dave Bonney)
   Wanted: RJ Testing Tools (David Elliott)
   Frequency Tuning Speed (Jae-Soo Kim)
   Why Was 334 Picked For Alabama? (Linc Madison)

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. The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick
Townson Associates and redistribution is permitted only with unedited,
complete copies of the Digest and associated mailing lists/news groups.
Please obtain permission before reprinting the material herein. Thanks.

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

From: TELECOM Moderator <[email protected]>
Subject: New Calling Card For Business Travelers
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 01:53:00 CST


You who have been around here awhile have heard me mention the Orange
Calling Card from Orange Communications; a telephone calling card with
no surcharge at any time for its use, and rates of 25 cents per minute
with a thirty second minimum billing period. It costs $12 to sign up
and it works like any other calling card (dial an 800 number; get the
tone; enter your card number, the number you are calling, and your
PIN) except for the lack of any surcharge at all.

Now I am offering one called the GOLD CARD. For starters, the rates
are a little different, however there are some additional features
available on it you should find useful.

Rates: 28 cents per minute during the day;
      25 cents per minute evenings and nights;

  As with the Orange Card, *no surcharge at any time*.

So you are probably asking why you should spend 28 cents per minute
during the day on calls when Orange is only 25 cents per minute. Here
is why:

  No fee to sign up. If you qualify, you get it free of charge.
  Qualifying means having reasonably good credit and being a
  regular business traveler;

  You choose your own ten digit authorization code and four
  digit PIN;

  Voicemail is included -- 25 cents per message left in your box;

  Fax mailbx is included -- 30 cents per faxed page left in your box;

  Fraud protection in the form of a daily usage limit which you
  set and you can adjust as required;

  Originate calls anywhere in the USA with domestic *and international*
  terminations. (Orange is still just domestic USA terminations);

  Use # for redial or re-origination of calls;

  Speed dial capability for your frequently called numbers;

  Broadcast voicemail and broadcast fax mail capabilities;

  International origination of calls beginning around the middle
  of 1994. Orange Card has never been useful to readers of the
  Digest outside the USA, but beginning sometime next year the
  GOLD CARD will allow people in other countries to participate;

  Voice prompts make the system easy to use.

Here are some examples:

To make a regular GOLD CARD call:

   Dial 1-800-xxx-xxxx and listen for the greeting;
   Enter your self-defined authorization code and PIN;
   Listen for further instructions which will tell you
     to dial your call (with 011 if international) or
     press * for options.

To pick up voicemail, select option #2.

To pick up fax messages, select option #3 and enter the
     number where your faxes are to be delivered. The
     system will then call that number and deliver the fax(es).

To change your system daily limit, press * from within the
     options menu, and enter your six digit limit code, then
     act according to the prompts given.


To send voicemail messages and faxes using the GOLD CARD:

  Give your associates the 800 number, your ten digit
     authorization code and the special PIN 6245  (MAIL).
     They'll get switched into your voicemail box to
     leave messages at 25 cents each which you retrieve
     from wherever you are at your convenience.

  People also send faxes to you in much the same way. They
     call the 800 number, and certain prompts tell them
     to start the fax transmission once they have gotten
     to your mailbox.

So, if you think this is worth three cents more per minute on daytime
calls (but the same rate as Orange evening and nights along with the
no surcharge arrangement), then drop me a note at [email protected]
and ask for the paperwork to be mailed out to you to get an account
started.

The GOLD CARD is a service of Corporate Telemanagement Group and is
intended for frequent business travelers. Please include your company
name when you contact me for the application, and the address where it
is to be mailed.

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

The same folks offer 1+ long distance service to businesses at the
rate of 18.4 cents per minute flat rate, and 800 service at the rate
of 18.4 cents per minute flat rate plus a $5 per month surcharge in
the case of 800 numbers. As my existing 800 number customers know,
Hogan was bought out by Corporate Telemanagement Group and your
existing 800 numbers are being serviced by CTG under the terms of the
contract you had with Hogan.

Regards the 1+ dialing noted above, obviously I can only recommend
this to business users with a heavy volume of daytime calls. 18.4
cents per minute is never a bargain at night, and if your long
distance calling is mostly at night from home, don't apply for this.
For many small businesses however, the 18.4 daytime rate might be a
good deal.

Again, for details or to sign up:  [email protected].

Patrick Townson

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

Date: Tue, 14 Dec 93 09:23 WET
From: [email protected] (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Businesses Should Beware of Phone Fraud During Holiday Season
Organization: Internex Online (io.org) Data: 416-363-3783  Voice: 416-363-8676


Here is a press release from AT&T.

AT&T Warns Businesses Against Holiday Hackers and Toll Thieves

David Bikle
201-644-7052 (office)
201-871-0104 (home)

FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1993

    BASKING RIDGE, N.J.-- AT&T urges businesses to guard against
increased risk of toll-fraud attempts by hackers, or toll-call
thieves, during the upcoming holiday season.

    Last year nationwide toll-fraud attempts increased by about 50
per cent during the Christmas week.  Hackers "break into" PBX's or
voice-mail systems, obtain passwords or access to outside lines, and
then sell or use the information to make illegal international phone
calls.

    Toll fraud cost American businesses more than $2 billion in l993.

    "Hackers count on being able to steal calls undetected while
businesses are closed during a long holiday weekend," says Larry Watt,
director of AT&T's Toll Fraud Prevention center.  "'Tis the season to
be wary."

    AT&T suggests several steps businesses can take to protect
against phone fraud:

  o Program PBX's to block outgoing calls to foreign
    countries during the hours the business is closed. Also
    consider blocking remote access into PBX and voice-mail
    systems both after hours and throughout the holiday
    weekends.

  o Deactivate or restrict call transfer out of voice mail
    and auto-attendant systems.

  o Institute a regular schedule for changing access codes
    and passwords, and always delete unused codes.

  o Enroll in a fraud-prevention program that will call the
    customer whenever suspicious calling patterns are
    detected--even in the evening and on weekends--so the
    long-distance carrier can quickly block further illegal
    outgoing calls.

    AT&T monitors virtually all of its business customers' calls 24
hours a day, and its NetPROTECT(SM) Services include notification of
fraud attempts even at night and on weekends.

    For example, with NetPROTECT Plus Service a business can
designate three people and their reach numbers after work hours, so
that AT&T can notify the representative and work with him or her to
stop the fraud quickly.

    AT&T is the industry leader in helping companies to prevent toll
fraud.  Businesses that want more information on preventative measures
can request AT&T's free booklet, "Tips on Safeguarding Your Company's
Telecom Network," by calling 1-800-NET-SAFE.

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

Date: 14 Dec 93 02:02:48 EST
From: Alfredo E. Cotroneo <[email protected]>
Subject: International Internet Association


This is warning for possible fraud involving "free" Internet access
offered to European users by IIA (International Internet Association).
Potential users of Internet and e-mail services in Europe have been
contacted by an alleged non profit organization denominated
"International Internet Associaton (IIA)" based in Washington, DC,
USA, promoting free access to Internet sponsored with funds provided
by the US Administration.  A few days later expressing interest in
IIA's "free" service, companies in Europe were told by IIA that
"International Discount Telecommunication Corp. (IDT)" would contact
them for details on how to connect to the "free" Internet service.

IDT, based in Hackensack, NJ, is a Telecommunication (phone) services
provider, which basically provide a US dial-tone service to customers
outside the USA, giving them access to the US phone networks at
tariffs slighlty higher that the ones normally offered by AT&T, but
cheaper than the ones offered by most European national PTTs. The
invitation to sign a contract with IDT to get access to IIA "free
Internet" must be carefully evaluated by potential users of Internet
in Europe, because even at the discounted phone rates offered by IDT,
Internet access will be quite expensive. There are -- depending on the
particular usage of Internet by the individual companies in Europe --
much cheaper alternatives to be considered.

To the profane, all this is a clear indication that everyone must be
very careful when a service is offered for free. Especially when free
services are offered by a non-profit organization in the US which seem
to have very close ties with a commercial company. Furthermore: IDT
does not indicate clearly the phone tariffs in their contract form,
they ask for a credit card number to activate the service, and they
only indicate that the "users will be billed directly by the American
carriers (???WHO ARE THEY???) at their lowest rate", which one is not
shown. No access to Internet is being offered apparently by IIA
without signing a contract with IDT.

Unfortunately this warning will not reach Europeans in need of an
Internet access, since they would not probably be connected yet to
read this message.


Alfredo E. Cotroneo, PO BOX 10980, I-20110 Milano Italy
email: [email protected]

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

Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1993 10:31:00 -0500
From: Ronald Lee Stone <[email protected]>
Subject: New: RADIO-L - Digital Audio Broadcasting - DAB


RADIO-L on [email protected]
       or [email protected]

           Discussion of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

The RADIO-L discussion list is a forum for addressing the issues
involved in the transition to a Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)
standard in the United States and other countries.

Discussion regarding the relative technological merits of various DAB
proposals, as well as the social and economic implications of a
transition to DAB is welcome and encouraged on this list.  Digital
audio broadcasting offers improved sound quality, technical
superiority, and economic efficiency over current AM and FM analog
broadcasting.  The United States is scheduling tests of various DAB
proposals beginning summer 1994.

Anyone can join.  To join the list send a message to LISTSERV@UMINN1
on BITNET or [email protected] on the Internet with the BODY
containing the command:

      SUBSCRIBE RADIO-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname

  Eg. sub radio-l Marchese G. Marconi

  Owner:  Ronald L. Stone  [email protected]
          graduate student  :  Scientific & Technical Communication
          Department of Rhetoric  :  University of Minnesota, St. Paul
          (612) 644-9706

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

From: Stewart Fist <[email protected]>
Subject: X.32 Dial-up Access
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 00:00:00 GMT


What has happened to X.32 as a dial-up form of access to X.25 packet
networks? A couple of years ago it was being hailed as the great break-
through that would allow POTS line and modem users to get two-way-
calling access to ISDN at reasonable rates.

From memory, the two-way-calling system wasn't integrated into the
first release of the protocol, so it was then little more than a
synchronous form of the X.28 access for people without tie lines.  Was
two-way-calling ever introduced?

I'm interested in this because it occurs to me that the ideal
combination for small business and people working from home, will be
something like X.32 over ADSL or HDSL.  This seems to be the ideal way
to use a POTS line to get reasonable data rates into public-access
X.25, frame-relay and ATM networking services.

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

From: [email protected] (John T Ellis)
Subject: Miscellaneous Questions Before Leaving For China
Date: 14 Dec 1993 02:31:08 GMT
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Reply-To: [email protected]


I will be moving to Beijing, China in late January to begin a two year
assignment training Chinese engineers on Motorola's cellular equipment
(infrastructure).  As I've been preparing to pack up and move out, I
compiled the following list of questions.  I would appreciate a word
or two from anyone who can shed some light.

Thanks much beforehand.  I certainly appreciate it.

(1) I am looking to buy a fully compatible PAL/NTSC video recorder.
When I say "fully compatible", I mean the following -

     : able to record NTSC
     : able to record PAL
     : able to play PAL
     : able to play NTSC

Can anyone offer suggestions on models, brands?  What experiences have
people had with these kind of systems - ie. poor tape recording
quality, poor playing of a tape from a particular signalling system?

Also, I was given the following name and address for a company in
New York that specializes in the above systems.  Has anyone dealt
with them before?

     Appliances Overseas
     276 Fifth Ave.
     Suite 407
     New York, NY 10001-4509
     212-545-8001 - tel
     212-545-8005 - fax

(2) What experience(s) do people have with Fax/Modem/Phone switches?
I have a catalog from DAMARK that has a TT System listed for $79.99.
Does this sound reasonable?  Is this a good buy?  If not, where should
I go?  What should I try to avoid?

(3) What problems can I expect when trying to interface American made
phone equipment into a Chinese phone jack?  I know that I will have to
worry about power, but I'm refering to connectors, line voltages etc.
The equipment I will be bringing in includes: computer modem, fax
machine, ATT cordless phone.

(4) ** This isn't really related to telecom, but I thought someone
might know. **

I would like to bring my tape deck, record player and microwave with
me.  I have been told that I may need to make adjustments to the belts
on the players and some other modifications to the microwave.  Can
anyone confirm this?  If so, what changes are required?  If I don't
make the changes, what problems will I incur?

Again, thanks much for all the assistance.


John T. Ellis 708-632-7857
Motorola Cellular   [email protected]

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

From: [email protected] (Doug Krause)
Subject: Area Codes *and* Prefixes
Organization: Lido 24 Hr. Pizza and Video
Date: 14 Dec 93 12:51:49 GMT


Is there a US-wide list of area codes and prefixes available? If not,
I would be willing to collect this information from people around the
country and post it monthly.


****  Douglas Krause   [email protected]    One yuppie can ruin  ****
****  University of California, Irvine      your whole day.    ****


[Moderator's Note: Most of what you are seeking is in the Telecom
Archives already. Check out the 'areacodes' and 'country.codes' sub-
directories within the archives. Carl Moore is responsible for much
of the data in that area, along with others who help him. The archives
is accessible several ways: the two most common are anonymous ftp and
the email information service I operate. Use anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu
to connect, then 'cd telecom-archives' and go from there. If you need
a copy of the email information service help file (it is completely
an automated thing) then write me and ask for it.   PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Dec 93 06:44 WET
From: [email protected] (woody)
Subject: Caller ID Project in Electronics Now (Feb. 94)


The {Electronics Now} publication (formerly Radio-Electronics) has a
Caller ID project scheduled for its February 1994 edition, which
should be on newsstands in January. The do-it-yourself folks
interested in number display things might take notice.


David Leibold

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

Date: 08 Dec 93 17:37:49 EST
From: Stewart Fist <[email protected]>
Subject: Caller ID Terms Can be Confusing


I'm trying to follow this CLI/ANI discussion in TELECOM Digest and in
other technical publications.  I guess you guys know what you're
talking about, but the welter of casually-used terms and acronyms have
left me rather confused.

I've culled out the following acronyms and terminology.  Would someone
care to explain the distinctions.

> Caller ID
> CID - Calling Identity Delivery
> ID calls - (presumably the same - or does this refer to a post-hoc
     call to the exchange to discover the ID of the last caller?)
> CLI - Call Line Identification
> CLID - (presumably the same)
> CND - Caller Number Display (probably the same)
> CNI - Call Number Identification
> CNID - (is this only between exchanges?)
> CPNI - Customer Private Network Information (is this generic?)
> ANI - (Is this primarily for inter-carrier billing purposes?)
> ADSI - Analog Display Service Interface (aren't all of these analog?)
> STR - Source Telephone Recognition (seems to be on ISDN only?)
> Ad-Hoc call trace (automatic delivery of CLI after, by dialling
         special number, presumably?)

Also, while you are about it, could someone clear up the following:

1. What is CLI called when it is carried over ISDN's D-channel?  Is this STR?
2. What is it called when it is carried in SS7 (CCS#7) packets?
3. How does Delux ID know the name of the caller?  Does it need to reference
some form of X.500 directory?
4. What's the distinction between "CLASS and LASS-based"?
5. What is meant (or implied) by "multi message format". What is single
message format CLI?


[Moderator's Note: Well, that's a big order; I suspect people are
going to be writing with several responses. This is a good time to
remind readers that one of the features of the Telecom Archives Email
Information Service is the GLOSSARY command: When you encounter a
term you are unfamiliar with, send email to the archives in the
usual prescribed format (see the help file) and as your command, you
enter GLOSSARY <term or abbreviation>. All the various glossary files
will be searched automatically and the appropriate text from each
glossary sent back to you in email. Try it and have some fun with
it. I guess a few thousand entries are available.  PAT]

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

From: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 93 05:33:23 EST
Subject: Cox Cable to Compete with US West


The following appeared in the Dec. 6, 1993 edition of {Advertising Age}:

COX CABLE TO COMPETE WITH US WEST IN INTERACTIVE TEST

Cox Cable Communications will test a variety of interactive services
on it's system in Omaha, Neb., starting next June. Cox will use
interactive technology provided by a consortium of ICTV, a Santa
Clara, Calif., interactive services company; IBM Corp., which is
providing digital servers; and New Century Communications, a data
management company. Among the services Cox will test are movies and
music videos on demand, a shopping mall, electronic classified ads and
a local dining guide, said David Serlin, exec VP of ICTV. The
interactive service will compete directly with a similar one planned
for Omaha by US West. The Cox test is the first market test by ICTV, a
four-year old company.

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

Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1993 12:12:08 EST
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Scaling (Was Re: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?)
From: Paul Robinson <[email protected]>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA


Brendan Jones <[email protected]>, writes:

> I don't deny CDMA looks to be a promising technology.  However, you
> can't necessarily scale the experience of a 50 user 5 base station
> system.  Some particular propagation or interference effects,
> negligible under low density use, may become far more important
> under higher density use.

I will concur with this.  There have been major technological
improvements and corrections in design errors of equipment used on the
Internet.  Some of the flaws in the design and implementation were
only discovered after they were put into "live use" on a running
network of hundreds of thousands of sites (then).  The equipment
worked fine under low usage conditions and laboratory tests.  When put
into service in the real world where a "baptism under fire" showed
they needed to be changed to meet the conditions that actual service
would cause.

This is not to fault the designers of those systems; there was no way
to tell until they went into service exactly what conditions would
occur on a real network under actual conditions.  This was one case
where you can't guess at what will happen, the only way you can find
out is to put it up and see why it fails, since no laboratory or
simulation could provide the kind of punishment that real-life actual
use would provide.


Paul Robinson - [email protected]

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

Date: Tue, 14 Dec 93 13:46:55 GMT
From: [email protected] (Dave Bonney)
Subject: Shared 800 Telephone Numbers


Carl Moore <[email protected]> in writing about changes to local dialing
plans quoted from a Bell letter to customers:

> "We thank you for helping us to prepare for Pennsylvania's new area
> code.  If you have any questions, please call our We Can Help Center
> at 1-800-555-5000, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m."

and Carl commented:

> [I tried that number from Maryland and got U.S. West Communications
> -- a recording only -- in Denver, Colorado.  Darn, I am not in Del. or
> Pa. now.]

If you try that number in New England Telephone territory, you get the
'New England Telephone Customer Response Center'.

Leading one to believe that despite the TELCO and RESPORG claims of
'One Number -- One User', it's another case of 'Mother Knows Best' and
'Do As I Say, Not As I Do'.

Does anyone have any knowledge of a single 800 number being used for
different customers in different geographical areas??

(Other than Mother and the Children of course ...)

Inquiring Minds Want To Know ...


David A. Bonney  <---> Telephone +1 (508) 692-4194
A Telecommunications Professional Now Available in Westford MA
No Employer, No Disclaimer.    Just My Own Thoughts.
Inquiries to MCIMail 422-4552 or Internet <[email protected]>

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

From: [email protected] (David Elliott)
Subject: Wanted: RJ Testing Tools
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 00:55:02 GMT


I work for a small software company, and we do our own network and
telephone wiring inside the office.  Our computers are networked
together using 10BaseT Ethernet and our telephone lines are all single
lines.  Everything is handled in one room with a punch-down panel,
though some larger offices have separate Ethernet hubs in them.

Our biggest problems tend to be with broken or incorrectly-made
cables.  Testing these to isolate problems is a big hassle.  The only
real tools we have are a beeper box and a multimeter.  While these are
a start, and we could improve things by creating some special cables
and connectors, time is money.

What I am interested in is a set of tools for testing and analyzing
cables and jacks.  Typical testing scenarios:

* Cable tester - I plug in both sides of a cable (either
 RJ11 or RJ45) and the tester tells me what is connected to
 what, or at least whether the wires are connected straight
 through (though for modem serial cables it would be nice to
 have it work like a standard break-out box, too).

* Line tester - I plug in a loop-back connector on one
 side of a run, plug in a line tester on the other, and it
 tells me whether each wire is good or not (it would be great
 if it could help isolate which one, but one bad wire usually
 means the whole cable needs replacing).

* In-line signal analyzer - I plug this into an existing
 setup, and it tells me which lines have signal on them.

There may be other tools that are useful, and if so, I'd like to hear
about them.  The main goal is to make it so that diagnosing problems
doesn't require taking someone away from their regular work.


David Elliott - [email protected] - (408) 735-8362

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

From: [email protected] (Jae-Soo Kim)
Subject: Frequency Tuning Speed
Organization: UB
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 01:23:42 GMT


Hello,

I'd like to know the frequency tuning speed of frequency synthesizer
which is in market now.

Any information or any direction to materials will be greatly
appreciated.


Jae

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

From: [email protected] (Linc Madison)
Subject: Why Was 334 Picked For Alabama?
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 09:58:12 GMT


I have a question about the selection of 334 as the new area code for
Atlanta.  In numerous discussions about the generalization of area
codes after "Time T," it has been stated that the first NNX area codes
would all be NN0 (such as 520 for Arizona).  Yet the very first NNX is
not NN0.  Just wondering about this picayune detail ...


Linc Madison  *  Oakland, California  *  [email protected]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #818
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