TELECOM Digest Sat, 18 Dec 93 21:23:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 825

TELECOM Digest Sat, 18 Dec 93 21:23:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 825

Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

Eleventh UK Teletraffic Symposium (Richard Gibbens)
Namibia Telephone Codes (Carl Moore)
Paper Needed on Propogation Modeling (Antonio Dell'Elce)
Re: The Superhighway and Telcos (Nathan D. Lane)
Re: 0.6W or 3.0W Cell Phones, Which to Buy? (Alex Cena)
Re: Broadband Technologies, Inc. (Alex Cena)
Re: TDD Software Wanted (Paul Robinson)
Re: Voice Mail Cards For Home PC (Jon Edelson)
Re: SMDR Polling Device Recommendation Needed (Dave Ptasnik)
Re: Modem Communication on TTY (Rich Mintz)
Re: Use of British Answering Machines in the US (Liron Lightwood)
Re: Use of British Answering Machines in the US (Richard Cox)
Re: 603-43x-xxxx Switch? (Dave Niebuhr)
Re: Listening to Cellular Calls (Eric N. Florack)
Re: Information Wanted on Unix E-mail Packages (Paul Robinson)
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From: [email protected] (Richard Gibbens)
Subject: Eleventh UK Teletraffic Symposium
Organization: DPMMS (Cambridge Univ - Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics)
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 18:40:53 GMT

Call for papers

Eleventh UK Teltraffic Symposium

Performance Engineering in Information Systems

The Eleventh UK Teletraffic Symposium, arranged by Profession Group E7
(Telecommunication networks and services) and C3 (Information systems
and networks), and co-sponsored by the British Computer Society and
the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, will be held at the
Moller Centre, Cambridge, from 23 to 25 March 1994.

This is an annual event that provides a forum for specialists in the
area to discuss the latest modelling techniques for performance
evaluation of the use, management and structure of the wide variety of
communication networks now being developed.

Contributions are invited that review current techniques, discuss
generic problems, or introduce novel methodologies and results. The
areas of particular interest are:

* Mobile communications

* Broadband networks, management and control

* Feature and service interaction

* Local access techniques

* Network interworking

* Traffic management

* Design tools

* Traffic characterisation

* New mathematical methods and simulation techniques

* Software performance analysis

Prospective authors are invited to submit a synopsis of approximately
250 words before Friday, 7 January 1994 to Dr R. J. Gibbens, Statistical
Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge, CB2 1SB,
tel: 0223 337945, fax: 0223 337956. Following acceptance, authors will
be asked to prepare a full paper, not more than six A4 sides in length,
by Friday, 4 March 1994.

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Date: Sat, 18 Dec 93 13:36:31 EST
From: Carl Moore <[email protected]>
Subject: Namibia Telephone Codes

Namibia (+264) and South Africa (+27) have city codes that look they
could fit into one list -- similar to an old area code and the new one
just split from it. In the following message, RSA is Republic of
South Africa.

--FORWARDED MESSAGE--

From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Namibia
To: Carl Moore <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 06:11:04 +0000 (GMT)
Organization: Windhoek Central Hospital
Reply-To: [email protected]

> Since the city codes fit in with those of South Africa: Was Namibia
> once a part of the South Africa phone system?

We were part of RSA until independence :-)-O

The phone system is still integrated with RSA. National phone rates
apply for calls to the RSA, if it were international I could not
afford it.

Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse Windhoek Central Hospital
<[email protected]> Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Private Bag 13215 61 203 2106/7 (Bleeper) 61 224014 (home)
Windhoek, Namibia

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

From: [email protected] (
Subject: Paper Needed on Propogation Modeling
Date: 18 Dec 1993 09:17:30 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway

I am looking for a paper that treats Empirical Model for Urban
microcells, I have a paper about it called "Urban/Suburban
Out-of-sight Propagation Modeling" from various authors (IEEE cm,
June, 1992) but I am looking for an updated propagation modeling
description.

Can any of you point to any paper/article etc about it? Thanks.

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

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 17:33:23 -0800
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: The Superhighway and Telcos

> Joel Upchurch @ Upchurch Computer Consulting uunet!aaahq01!upchrch!
> joel says:

> I read something in the last issue of {Popular Science} about some cable
> company experimenting with providing internet access through the cable
> system. Imagine a local cable company doing something like getting a
> pagesat news feed and providing it to their customers as a premium
> cable channel with a special modem to translate the data.

And the previous post mentioned PSI. Well, PSI just two months ago
announced the first (I think) venture with a cable company back east
(I think it was Continental in New York). Their goal is to provide
10Mbps (yes, ethernet speeds) to cable customers, bidirectionally, for
just $100/month. The equipment is installed and I believe they even
have trial customers now.

Now, I would imagine the 10Mbps is an aggregate load for ALL the cable
customers. I doubt that each person gets 10Mbps to the Internet.
(PSI would kill their telco business in an instant if they did
that ... or the telco's would lower their prices drastically).

I can dig up the press release if anyone would like it and sends me
e-mail.

Nathan D. Lane, VP Triicon Systems. Lompoc, CA (805) 733-1849

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Date: Sat, 18 Dec 93 09:34:50 EST
From: Alex Cena <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: 0.6W or 3.0W Cell Phones, Which to Buy?

[email protected] (Gary Huntress) wrote:

> I've been shopping for a cellular phone for my in-law's Xmas gift.
> In fact I just returned a few minutes ago more confused than when I
> left. I had planned on buying one of the smaller style of phones
> rather than the "bag" type. My in-laws will be travelling between MA
> and FL using the phone almost exclusively for emergency inbound and
> outbound calls (once we get over the "guess where I'm calling from!"
> phase).

I would buy a 0.6W portable. If you need more oomph, you can always
purchase a docking station with a 3.0W booster, hands free, recharger,
antenna, etc. I use a Motorola MicroTac PT550, which I have used
driving from Minneapolis, MN to New York City. I was able to use it
more than 90% of the time. Moreover, I travel quite a bit (2-3
days/week) around the United States and Canada. Thus far, 0.6W has
not been a problem for me.

Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers [email protected], Opinions are mine not my
employers

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Date: Sat, 17 Dec 1993 17:30:12 EST
From: Alex Cena <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Broadband Technologies, Inc.

Randy te Velde <[email protected]> wrote:

> Is ADSL for real? And if so, how will it be switched? Can we get
> what we want from it (HDTV, high bandwidth interactive services), or
> will it force us to make due with less?

If you need more info on ADSL, you may want to try the following
companies, which are working on the technology: Newbridge Networks,
ADC Telecom, Amati, Level One, Tellabs and PairGain Technologies.

I hear there is a definite interest by the telephone companies and
there are RFPs for equipment to be used in trials around the country.
Unfortunately, ADSL still costs quite a bit of money ($?,000) due to
lack of silicon. Some say ADSL must be less than $500/line to be
deployed economically. Same was true w/HDSL until PairGain designed
its own transceiver, which it used in conjunction with Brooktree's A/D
converter to offer a single card that fit in a standard repeater bay.

Alex M. Cena, Lehman Brothers [email protected], Opinions are mine not my
employers

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

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 13:27:00 EST
From: Paul Robinson <[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: TDD Software Wanted
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA

> Is there any software that emulates a TDD (Telecomm Device for the
> Deaf?). This ought to be straightforward, but my local phone
> company says that you 'have to buy their TDD hardware'. Say it
> ain't so!

��
(continued next message)

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Area # 700 EMAIL 12-19-93 22:23 Message # -7035
From : TELECOM Digest Moderator
To : ELIOT GELWAN PVT RCVD
Subj : TELECOM Digest V13 #825

�@FROM :[email protected]
��(Continued from last message)

It ain't so. You can buy hardware for this purpose from anyone.

> I don't care what kind of computer, although UNIX-based sources
> would be helpful.

Modems that will handle TDD are much more expensive due to the limited
market; software alone cannot handle TDD as the standard device uses
6-bit baudot, not 8-bit ascii (although some newer models handle
both).

A modem to handle TDD and standard ascii at 2400 baud will cost
upwards of $200, e.g. as much as a 14,400 baud modem. I have heard
that there is some inexpensive hardware that, if you have an original
IBM PC with cassette port, can be used to do TDD through the cassette
port.

Paul Robinson - [email protected]

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

From: [email protected] (Jon Edelson)
Subject: Re: Voice Mail Cards For Home PC
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 18:30:47 GMT

In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Bill
Mayhew) writes:

> It sounds like just the thing you are looking for is from The Complete
> PC. There is a product called The Complete Answering Machine as well
> as a companion product called The Complete Fax Machine.

> If you go off hook for more than five seconds (this is
> user configurable) without DTMFing or outpulsing, the CAM will
> automatically disconnect the subscriber loop and start reading you the
> voice mail menu, giving you the opportunity to key in your mailbox
> number and password.

I've had a product called the Complete Communicator for about three
years. It includes the answering machine as well as the fax. I
bought it after trying out the answering machine card. The problem
that I found is that it the software release that came with the CCOM,
the auto pickup was lost. One _must_ use the keyboard to initiate
checking one's mail.

If this feature has again returned, I would appreciate knowing about
it. If not, then the use of CCOM in a multi extension environment can
get pretty annoying.

Jon ([email protected])

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

From: [email protected] (Dave Ptasnik)
Subject: Re: SMDR Polling Device Recommendation Needed
Date: 18 Dec 1993 18:39:46 GMT
Organization: University of Washington

[email protected] (Anthony Palmer Dawson) writes:

> I need to acquire a device that can store SMDR information provided
> from a 5ESS Generic 8 to my premises. This device must allow polling
> via modem and/or ISDN. Any recommendations or pointers to vendors via
> email will be greatly appreciated.

Just get an old PC and put in a copy of procomm. Plug it into the
5ess, you may need a 355A adapter to get from 4 pair to RS232. Set
procomm to direct connection, set up a "log", and your SMDR will be
automatically stored as an ASCII file. You can then do periodic dumps
by modem, maybe using something like Carbon Copy to make remote
changes. We do this on campus, and ship the call records around on
the campus ethernet hub. It can be set up to send out the calls in
real time over the campus ethernet, should we desire that.

All of the above is nothing more than the personal opinion of -

Dave Ptasnik [email protected]

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

From: [email protected] (Rich Mintz)
Subject: Re: Modem Communication on TTY
Date: 18 Dec 1993 04:38:57 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico

> This is all I write or read from the port. When I run this, all I
> get is \r\nOK\r\n from the modem and then NO CARRIER.

Try using your normal communications program to set your modem to
ignore the carrier detect and DTR leads. You can do this with
something like "AT &D&C&W", the &W saves the settings so they won't be
lost when you reset the modem or power-down. If your modem is an older
one that doesn't support the &D and &C commands, you could physically
tie those RS232 leads high or low as appropriate (only if it's an
external modem). Or, what might be easier if that's the case is to
find the C code for your machine that will set the DTR on. There are
tiny utilities made for running right at the DOS Prompt that might do
the job for you (ie: you just type DTR ON or DTR OFF at DOS).

Good luck!

Rich

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

From: Liron Lightwood <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Use of British Answering Machines in the US
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 21:02:46 EST

[email protected] (Jonathan Haruni) writes:

> I sent an answering machine which I bought (and tested) in London to
> someone in Israel and it didn't work there. He took it to a telephone
> shop where they said British answering machines don't work in Israel
> because Israel "uses the American system of ringing", whatever that
> means, and declined to look at it. Given that American machines do
> work in Britain, I have doubts.

Israel is an interesting case, because for many/most people, the
ringback tone is different to the ring tone (it was when I was last
there in 1987).

The ringback tone (the one you hear when dialling an Israli number) is
similar to the American ring tone (i.e. ring ... ring ... etc).
However, the ring tone (that rings the bell on the Israli phone) is
identical to the UK ring tone (i.e. ring ring ... ring ring ... etc).

When I was last there in 1987, this was true for most lines. In some
(older?) exchanges however, the ring tone was the same as the ringback
tone (i.e. ring ... ring ... etc).

Liron Lightwood

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

From: [email protected] (Richard Cox)
Subject: Re: Use of British Answering Machines
Reply-To: [email protected]
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 16:23:00

[email protected] (Jonathan Haruni) asked:

> I sent an answering machine which I bought (and tested) in London to
> someone in Israel and it didn't work there. He took it to a telephone
> shop where they said British answering machines don't work in Israel
> because Israel "uses the American system of ringing", whatever that
> means, and declined to look at it. Given that American machines do
> work in Britain, I have doubts.

That would be about right. In the UK, there is a master socket with a
single capacitor to filter off the ringing signal, which is
distributed to all sockets on pin 3. Most UK answering machines ONLY
look at pin 3 for their ringing signal. Others (and American
answering machines) ignore pin 3 and look across the A/B pair (with
their own capacitor to act as a DC filter).

So either will work in the UK. However in the US and in Israel there
*is* no pin 3 for the answering machine to look at. So while non-UK
machines will work, any machine that *only* looks at pin 3 for a ring
signal will think it's having a quiet life. Slap a UK master socket
across the A/B pair, to "create" a pin 3, and your answering machine
will once again answer calls.

Richard D G Cox

Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 956 700111 Fax: +44 956 700110 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101
E-mail address: [email protected] - PGP2.3 public key available on request

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

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 93 13:47:31 EST
From: [email protected] (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Re: 603-43x-xxxx Switch?

In TELECOM Digest V13 #786 [email protected] (Steve Hutzley)
writes:

> Recently, I saw an ad in the (Manchester, NH) {Union Leader} about New
> England Telephone offering Caller ID. GREAT! At the bottom of the
> 3/4 page ad in the paper was a list of exchanges that had this
> service. It would have saved them page space if they would have listed
> the exchanges that DIDN'T have the service. They listed towns in NH I
> didn't even know existed.

> I'm curious, if anyone knows what switch I might be connected to, and
> if this switch has the capability to handle Caller ID . the list of
> exchanges that I am interested in are: area code 603: *421, *425, *426,
> 432, 434, 437. The three exchanges marked by '*', are brand new, and
> have just appeared in the last two years. If anyone really wants the
> list of exchanges that 'DO' offer caller ID, I will post them.

One thing that you can do is try a local number such as 432-XXXX where
XXXX is a number that may or may not tell you what type of switch you
are on. If it is either a NT DMS-100 or AT&T 5ESS then the switch has
the capability to carry Caller ID.

I use exchange #-9901 (ex: 281-9901) for my read back. You can try
that but there are probably many numbers that could do this.

Another way would be to call your business office to see if they can
tell you if the switch is capable of handling Caller-ID.

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

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

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 04:40:35 PST
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Listening to Cellular Calls

> Mr. Fischer, you obviously have no respect for a individual's privacy.
> Is business that bad that you must "prostitute" your product on the
> "net"? I can only hope that your privacy is invaded in a sufficiently
> grotesque manner to educate you on it's value.

> [Moderator's Note: It sounds to me like you are unhappy with the idea
> of people listening to your cellular calls. PAT]

Indeed it does, Pat. And I can understand the position. I tend to
agree that such listening devices, meaning those sold specificly to
listen to cellular calls, are somewhat less than ethical. At the same
time, perhaps it`s time we started looking at this in a more realistic
light.

The communications act of 1933 lays all this out, in living color: The
EM spectrum is the property of all the people ... and anything that is
broadcast `in the clear' is fair game for reception, by ANY citizen.
At the same time, it`s a crime to make use of any information gleaned
from listening to things not intended for public consumption...
Business transactions conducted over business radio are an example of
such.

I raise some of these issues in an extended post I wrote about a year

��
(continued next message)

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Area # 700 EMAIL 12-19-93 22:23 Message # -7034
From : TELECOM Digest Moderator
To : ELIOT GELWAN PVT RCVD
Subj : TELECOM Digest V13 #825

�@FROM :[email protected]
��(Continued from last message)
or so ago in response to the paranoia being spread by the CPSR and the
EFF, regards cryptography and the government ... and, if I`m not
mistaken, people can find it in the Telecom and Risks archives by
searching on the keywords "C.P.S.R.' and 'paranoia'.

The short version of the argument is this: We create more damage,
giving the impression that a 'line' is secure (by means of mere law)
than we do by making people on Cell phones aware /up front/, that they
should watch what they say, since the technology is such that the call
can be monitored by anyone with a mind to.

Matter of fact, given that about anyone with a mind could tap even a
hard-wire phone without even a direct connection ... (inductance
pickups ...) Perhaps no such system is secure, regardless of any law.

Clearly, the law prohibiting listening to cellular calls is at best
ineffective, and is, perhaps, counter-productive, to say nothing of it
being in direct violation of the intent of the communications act of
1933. The government, by giving the impression that such law IS
effective, is doing a dis-service to the public, and is perhaps
creating more of a security problem than it`s solving.

Perhaps we should educate the public that anything said on any
electroninc path, particularly on a public access network, is /by
nature/ not secure. That education process, and that shift of
responsibility away from the government, and law, and back to the comm
circuit user, where it belongs, is the biggest, and least expensive
security boost our telecommunications system could ever have.

What we have here is a case where our lawmakers have no idea what it
is they are regulating, but they have to do SOMETHING to justify their
positions of power. The result is predictable.

/E

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

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1993 12:43:12 EST
From: Paul Robinson <[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Information Wanted on Unix E-mail Packages
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA

Krause <[email protected]> asked:

> I was wondering what large scale e-mail packages people might be
> running off of their Unix boxes out there.

In probably 90% of all sites, the standard is Sendmail from U.C.
Berkely, mainly because it is free. The typical release is Berkely
Sendmail with the IDA patches.

For sites that don't need the tremendous power of everyone's beloved
sendmail and the adored "sendmail.cf" configuration files, :) there is
a smaller and less complicated program called "smail". You can do an
archie lookup and find either of these. Smail is also free. I
personally have copies of the sources to both. Also, CERT has
announced that there is a security hole in one of the latest releases
of Sendmail.

Sendmail can often be run "out of the box" as it is allegedly self
configurable; the real problem is writing the sendmail.cf file which
some sites don't even have to do that, as they can find a prewritten
one. Smail is considerably smaller and provides less functions, but
also uses fewer resources and less disk space.

> I am interested in receiving information (product and vendor) on
> e-mail packages that can be used in a corporate environment where
> one RS/6000 will act as a central point and other RS/6000's will
> dial into for mail. Mail could consist of regular mail as well as
> binary files (ie. spreadsheets, designs, etc.).

Well, you have four choices. One is to use a POP mail server, where
sites call into a repository and download mail. Another is to have
them use sendmail and SMTP if they are directly connected. Another is
to have them use an IMAP service to request mail from the other site.

Last choice is to install a mail server program which can be executed
as if the user had logged in at a local terminal and read mail. One
program for this purpose is called "Pine" which is a fairly nice ANSI
full-screen mailer. You can get it via an archie search also.

If the local sites are directly connected, running Sendmail on the
main server and perhaps SMAIL or POP on the local sites might not be
too bad a choice. POP is also good for dialup mail too.

Paul Robinson - [email protected]

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End of TELECOM Digest V13 #825
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