TELECOM Digest Wed, 16 Mar 94 13:54:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 134
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Hardware Recommendations For Phone Bank Wanted (
[email protected])
Communications Software For UNIX/HPUX Wanted (SynTech)
Needed: 2500 Sets (Don Grubb)
Telecom GIFS at Smithsonian Institution (Dave Niebuhr)
ICs in China (Robert Duque-Ribeiro)
How to Provide Dialtone to an Incoming Call (Paul Jonathan E. Go)
Re: Cordless Telephone Range (Joseph R. Schumacher)
Re: Telex Country Codes (A. Alan Toscano)
Re: Los Angeles Phone Fire Update (Mike O'Brien)
Re: Cut-Rate Domestic and International Calling Cards (Fritz Friedlaender)
Clipper Humor From Mini-JIR (Robert Virzi)
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From:
[email protected]
Subject: Hardware Recommendations For Phone Bank Wanted
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 11:22:08 PST
What sort of hardware do I need to set up a customized phone bank
system? What I think I need are boards which plug into an IBM
PC/AT-compatible backplane, which can switch calls, synthesize and
detect Touch Tones, and detect ringing. Several boards plugged into a
PC, programmed from MS Basic or something, could basically do
anything. Who makes boards like this and what do they cost?
I have in mind a system with N incoming lines for customers (where N
is as large as needed to handle the volume of business), N outgoing
lines, and a control computer that distributes calls, monitors
operator performance, etc. Because of the unique nature of the
business, configuration flexibility is a must.
This system would be a pay-per-call 900 service. As I understand it,
it is very easy to set these systems up nowadays. The big problem in
offering a 900 service seems to be advertising for customers, and I
think I've invented a way to get around that problem.
My idea is to offer a pay-per-call suicide hotline. This idea isn't
as ridiculous as it sounds. Conventional suicide hotlines (run as a
free service) get a large number of calls from a small number of
repeat callers who usually aren't very serious about suicide, they
just want somebody to talk to.
So instead of advertising, I'd call around to all the free suicide
hotlines and ask them to refer their problem users to me. This
benefits them because they off-load a burden to me, and it benefits me
because that's how I get customers without paying for advertising.
The conventional suicide hotlines would represent my service as a sort
of "premium" suicide hotline service. They would tell the client
someting like "You are really deep. We don't have anyone intelligent
enough to help you. You need 900-SUICIDE."
At my facility, I would re-route calls out to my operators, who would
work at home. They would basically be people who like to talk on the
phone, wish to help people, and want to make money at an at-home job.
I'm sure I could find lots of suitable people in retirement
communities. It might make sense to establish my operation in some
place like Palm Beach or Arroyo Grande.
If there was an emergency in progress, for example if the customer
said he'd just downed a bottle of pills, my operator should be able to
just hit a button to make a TT tone, and the computer would instantly
detect that and make an outgoing call to the local emergency service
for the client's area. I might even have a doctor on call who would
come on the line and evaluate the situation.
The computer would route calls to the appropriate operator. For most
customers, that would be based on calling history, i.e. you get hooked
up to the person who handled you most recently (if available). For
new callers, a phone-mail type interrogation session would sort out
who you should talk to first. For example:
"If you need immediate medical assistance, press one now."
"If you need to talk to a counselor, press two now."
<BEEP>
"If your situation relates to marriage, sex, or love, press one now."
"If your situation relates to money or taxes, press two now."
"If your situation relates to religion, press three now."
<BEEP>
"If your situation relates to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, press one now."
"If your situation relates to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, press two
now."
<BEEP>
"If you have been sexually abused by a member of the clergy, press one
now."
"If you doubt the existence of God, press two now."
... and so forth.
I anticipate there would be many people I could recruit as operators
without pay. For example, I'm sure every major church would want to
make a counselor available for people who were thinking about leaving
the church. Heck, I could even charge the churches for routing calls
to them! I could make money on both ends!
Maybe I should even start my own church! By the time the customers
have worked through the menu system, I, or rather my computer, would
know quite a lot about them. It should be possible to customize a
philosophy in real-time that would be comfortable for the client,
while at the same time setting realistic goals for personal
development that the client could work toward. This may require a
separate data line for each operator, to brief him or her on the
client relationship being cultivated (as chosen by the computer).
I suppose whatever hardware I choose will be programmed from Basic
using Peek and Poke statements, unless it interfaces by serial I/O in
which case I'd be using Print and Input statements. If it were at all
possible, I'd like to run on the Mac platform, communicating with the
phone line switcher by serial I/O. Is it at all reasonable to
consider implementing this in HyperCard?
I'd also like to hear any comments people have on the reliability of
the hardware that is available, i.e. who to buy and who to stay away
from. Reliability is a concern because of the possibility of
emergency situations. (I'm planning to have a policy of not charging
for calls where the client eventually does commit suicide.) Also,
what software environments are supported? (I _can_ program in Pascal
and C, and prefer C.)
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (SynTech)
Subject: Communications Software For UNIX/HPUX Wanted
Date: 16 Mar 1994 12:02:47 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
I am looking for a good communications package for use on a UNIX
(HP/UX) system. What I want to be able to do is send Hayes commands
to my modem from a UNIX command prompt. Kermit is not too helpful for
this purpose. Any suggestions on how I can interact with the modem in
command mode would be appreciated.
We are using MultiTech MultModem II modems.
Thanks!
Matt
------------------------------
From: Don Grubb <
[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 10:21:41 -0600
Subject: Needed: 2500 Sets
If anyone has recently replaced their analog lines with digital and
has a room full of 2500 sets (standard analog desk phones) that they
would like to donate or sell please let me know.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 13:08:21 EST
From:
[email protected] (Dave Niebuhr)
Subject: Telecom GIFS at Smithsonian Institution
While browsing through the Smithsonian Institution's archives today, I
found some GIF files of very old telephones and telegraphs. Very
interesting viewing.
Use anonymous ftp to photo.si.edu cd images/gif89a/tech-history and
have a look.
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] (DUQUE-RIBEIRO Robert)
Subject: ICs in China
Date: 16 Mar 1994 17:35:22 GMT
Organization: Ecole Centrale de Paris
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Hi!
My name is Robert Duque-Ribeiro, I have a BA in Business Management
and a MBA from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Economiques Et Commerciales
de Paris. I'm currently involved in a graduate program (MS Technology
&Management) at the Ecole Centrale Paris.
The reason why I'm writing to you today is because I am preparing a
study on the Integrated Circuits industry in China, the economical
activity and its potential. Therefore, I'm seeking information.
I'm looking for any kind of information on:
- people manufacturing, or using Integrated Circuits,
- who they are?
- where they are?
- when did it start?
- what they do?(what kind of IC, main characteristics, etc),
- how do they create their ICs (tools? equipment, vendors?)
- how many ICs they produce, design (?) ,
- for what industry (the potential customers)?
- do they work with foreign companies (vendors, suppliers, customers)
- do they export?
- do they import?
- what is China's (PRC and Hong Kong) policy towards IC?
In fact I'm looking for any kind of information that could help me
define the IC industry in China. I think that I may mix a marketing
framework (marketing mix : Product, price, place, promotion) with an
International business one (country, export rules, etc.)
I want to do well on this, because if I find enough information, I may
use it in my final thesis (Developing countries' new paradigm in
Integrated Circuit: Being threatened could be for our sake.)
Thanks for answering ASAP. Thanks for your help.
Best regards,
Robert Duque-Ribeiro ECOLE CENTRALE PARIS
MS Technology & Management Laboratoire Strategie & Management
e-mail:
[email protected] FRANCE
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Paul Jonathan E. Go)
Subject: How to Provide Dialtone to an Incoming Call
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 11:08:35 PST
A few weeks back, there was a discussion about black boxes that would
call people back and give them a dialtone.
For a senior project, I would like to build a box that would give an
incoming caller a dialtone after a security verification. However, I
can't figure out how to provide the dialtone to the caller.
When using three way calling, I usually establish a connection with
the first party, flash, establish the connection with the second
party, and then flash to start the three way call. If the second
connection is not established, then the phone returns to a normal two
party conversation.
How do I make the phone pass the dialtone through to the caller
instead of returning to the two party conversation?
I apologize if this issue has been solved before; I remember it being
discussed, but I don't remember if we ever agreed to a solution.
Thanks!
Paul Jonathan E. Go
Caltech MSC 1028
[email protected]
Pasadena CA 91126 213 344 7275
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You'll never make it happen if you continue
to use telco three-way calling instead of your own hardware. Telco's soft-
ware is written to require supervison of the third part of the call (i.e.
require an answer from the other end or at least get it out of the switch
on which you are located and on its way to the other office) before the
third link is officially established. It will always drop that third link
if the switchhook flash is premature. If you want to use telco three-way
calling to implement your project then you have to forget about providing
them dialtone (at least from the CO, I guess you could provide your own
for the sake of appearance) and just patch it through once the connection
is established. In a way, this is the safest way to go because you can
throoughly screen what they dial and only complete it if you are satisfied
with the destination of the call. Providing dialtone itself can be a
hazard to your financial health, with or without the additional passcode
they have to insert. If you want to give them true telco dialtone however,
you'll need to work with an actual second line from telco and fix your
hardware so the gate is opened when the passcode has been satisfied. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 10:54:27 -0500
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Re: Cordless Telephone Range
>> 2) even if it was legal, why does everyone want to increase the output
>> power? There is probably more room for increasing the receiver sensitivity
>> which would have the same effect. For instance, a cheap FET between the
>> antenna and the receiver chip could add at least 10 dB of sensitivity,
>> if you know what your'e doing.
[email protected] replies:
> ... Boosting receiver sensitivity won't help. I might also add
> that simple receiver mods (such as your front-end FET) will have a lot
> of trouble due to the duplexing problem; i.e., a FET connected to the
> antenna as an RF preamp will be overloaded by the phone's own
> transmitter which is also connected to the same antenna.
He even quoted me: "_if you know what you're doing_." I have in fact
seen 46/49 cordless phones which have FET preamps on the receiver.
Okay, maybe I should have said between the _duplexor_ and receiver
chip. As a matter of fact, the Motorola 3363 even has a built-in RF
amplifier (ok, it's bipolar) which is intended to preceed the mixer
stage.
Aside from that, I really have to agree with Mr. Held regarding
cordless telephone mods. What I was trying to suggest in the original
posting is that increasing the transmit power isn't a good idea. It
aggravates an interference problem which is already pretty bad. And
don't forget, it also makes it easier for your neighbors to listen in
on your calls.
BTW, the original post had a typo: the 900 MHz narrow band limit, (50
mV/m @ 3 meters) is actually 14 dB (not 4 dB) hotter than the 46/49
limit (10 mV/m @ 3 meters)
Joe
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (A Alan Toscano)
Date: 16 Mar 94 19:16:26 GMT
Subject: Re: Telex Country Codes
In TELECOM Digest V14 #131,
[email protected] (Donald R.
Newcomb) writes:
> I'm confused over the assignment of Country Codes for Telex. I've been
> told that the CC for Albania is 604 and that one of the CCs used by
> INMARSAT is 581 but when I look in the AT&T directory of Telex and
> EasyLink addresses, it says Albania is 866 and INMARSAT Telexes are in
> the range 70X, 80X, 90X (where X = 2,3,4,5,6...).
Two different standards for TELEX country codes are utilized in North
America.
604 and 581 are international standard (F.69) country codes for Albania
and INMARSAT-Atlantic-East respectivly. F.69 codes are two or three-digits
in length.
The codes which are listed in the AT&T Electronic Messaging Directory
(last published in 1991) are taken from the traditional North American
standard of "intercontinental codes." They are always three-digits in
length, where the first digit (3, 7, 8, or 9) designates a world
region.
Generally, North American TELEX service providers assume the use of an
"intercontinental code" by default. AT&T's commercial email services
support either type of code, but default to "intercontinental."
On AT&T EasyLink IMS, you can "override" the default and address an
international TELEX number using an F.69 country code by entering an
"ITE" format instead of a "WUW" format. For example:
PTS
ITE 604123456(123456ANSBK AB)+
where "604" is a country code, "123456" is a fictitious TELEX number, and
"123456ANSBK AB" is a fictitious expected Answerback.
On AT&T Mail, you designate an F.69 country code by adding the handling
option "/PROTOCOL=F.69" immediately after the TELEX number. For example:
telex!604123456/PROTOCOL=F.69 (123456ANSBK AB)
or, from a gateway:
attmail!telex!604123456/PROTOCOL=F.69 (123456ANSBK AB)
As far as I can tell, F.69 codes are not supported on AT&T's other
TELEX platforms, such as "Dial 100" Service, and EasyLink's OLC
(On-line Conversation) Service. Being an AT&T TELEX customer, I have
no information on other TELEX service providers' support of F.69
codes.
A Alan Toscano -- Houston, TX -- 713 415-9262
[email protected] or
[email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 11:39:01 PST
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Re: Los Angeles Phone Fire Update
The affected switch, whose name I flat-out don't remember, is
purported to be the largest switch west of the Rockies. The picture
in this morning's {LA Times} shows a cleanup-crew working around
"burned batteries", and I must say with the fire hitting the battery
room I also don't blame the folks who rapidly decamped.
I found out about the fire at 5AM, when I was awakened by a phone call
from the Los Angeles Southwest District Emergency Coordinator of the
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). ARES is the amateur radio
emergency organization allied with LA city. ARES had been activated
all over the city because the fire had knocked out 911 service to the
San Fernando Valley and West LA. (A sheriff's deputy reported to me
that it also resulted in 911 service being involuntarily "swapped"
between districts, with each district getting the other's calls.
Sounds like untested fallback technology to me.)
We sat and listened to our radios as the city emergency honchos met in
the LA EOC downtown to decide what to do about it. The usual plan was
for us to go to the nearest firehouse and act as communicators.
However, in this case, although 911 was kaput, 411 still worked fine.
Of course, 411 went to a completely different set of operators having
no emergency connectivity whatsoever, so the plan that was evolved on
the spot was to send us out to the 411 offices to relay traffic to the
firehouses. People who couldn't get anything on 911 were calling 411,
and were as mad as wet hens.
In the event, the emergency honchos just wound up publicizing
district-wide seven-digit numbers for emergency services, as the repair
estimate for return of 911 service was "six to eight hours" after the
fire, which was sometime around midnight or 1AM. Today's paper
reported 911 service restored at 9AM, and the rest of the switching
problems fixed by around 2PM. ARES stood down around 6:30AM without
being deployed.
Mike O'Brien
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Fritz Friedlaender)
Subject: Re: Cut-Rate Domestic and International Calling Cards
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 19:32:04 GMT
AT&T currently charges 31 cents/minute weekends (until June) to "REACH
OUT WORLD"(TM) customers who select Germany as their designated
country. And my last bill actually used these rates though there has
not been much advertising.
F.J. Friedlaender
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Robert Virzi)
Subject: Clipper Humor From Mini-JIR
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Inc.
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 19:17:15 GMT
This appeared in the mini Journal of Irreproducible results. I
thought it was relevant to the discussions regarding Clipper Chip
technology.
Bob Virzi
-------------------
1994-03-04 Clipper Chip Envelope, Initiative, and Economics
CLIPPER CHIP ENVELOPE
Soon the government-mandated Clipper Chip secret-code-decoder will be
installed in every piece of US electronic communications equipment.
Criminals might then try to send their coded messages via traditional
mail. Against that possibility, we are now applying Clipper Chip
protection to paper mail. Our Clipper Chip Envelope automatically
reads and decodes any paper enclosed in it. The Clipper Chip Envelope
consists of a standard paper envelope with an installed optical
scanner and microprocessor, optical character recognition software, a
passive transmitter, and a Clipper Chip. The whole mechanism is the
size and value of a fingernail clipping. Ee-way are-ay aking-may
is-thay echnology-tay available-ay oo-tay any-ay official-ay agency-ay
ich-way an-cay ecode-day is-they essage-may, free of charge.
Anyone interested in subscribing to this 'zine can do so by sending a brief
E-mail message to either of these addresses:
[email protected] or LISTSERV@MITVMA
The body of your message should contain ONLY the words "SUBSCRIBE MINI-
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To stop subscribing,
send the following message to the same address:
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To make this Digest into a multi-linqual
publication, I shall start producing an edition in Pig Latin each day. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #134
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