TELECOM Digest Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:12:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 14
Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Announcing networkMCI (Dan L. Dale)
"Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime (Paul Robinson)
Dialing Changes for Delaware (Carl Moore)
Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services (Feedlebom)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Art Walker)
Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated (Dave Reus)
Re: California ANI Question (David Josephson)
Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again! (Dan Osborn)
Re: 500 Channel Cable TV (Gary W. Sanders)
Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous (Al Varney)
Re: Help Needed With v.42bis (Janusz Purwin)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Carl Moore)
Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident (Jim Thomas)
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Date: Wed, 5 Jan 94 22:56 EST
From: Dan L. Dale <
[email protected]>
Subject: Announcing networkMCI
MCI UNVEILS LONG-RANGE VISION: networkMCI
Opens Nation's First Transcontinental Information Superhighway;
Announces $20 Billion in Strategic Initiatives
Washington, D.C., January 4, 1994--MCI today unveiled a sweeping
strategic vision under which MCI and associated partners are expected
to invest more than $20 billion to create and deliver a wide array of
new branded services to teleconsumers, businesses, research facilities
and government customers.
"Our notion of the future of telecommunications and MCI is going
to have a brand name: networkMCI," said Bert C. Roberts, MCI chairman
and CEO. "This strategic vision is the sum of all our plans and
opportunities in the new emerging markets with services that
consumers, businesses and governments will want at their fingertips as
we move into the 21st Century. As a core strategy, it leverages the
tremendous opportunities brought on by the convergence of telephony,
entertainment and the computer."
Transcontinental Information Superhighway
Today the company announced, as an initial element of the
networkMCI vision, the inauguration of the nation's first trans-
continental information superhighway. Often talked about as a key
ingredient to keeping America competitive in tomorrow's world economy,
the MCI superhighway's roadbed uses SONET fiber optic technology at
speeds 15 times faster than any SONET network available today.
MCI said that the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) is
the first user of its New York to Los Angeles SONET fiber system. The
NSFNET Backbone Service is the fastest and most powerful of the
university, government and commercial networks known collectively as
the Internet. "Some people may be surprised to learn that MCI
developed these intercity links for the Internet six years ago," said
Roberts. "The NSFNET service today reaches nearly 15,000 networks
around the world that participate in the Internet."
"The Internet doubles in size annually and now links over two
million computers serving some six million users," said Vinton Cerf,
President of the Internet Society. "When electronic mail
interconnects are taken into account, nearly 20 million users conduct
their business from labs, homes and offices over the Internet. MCI
and its partners, IBM, Merit and ANS, pioneered the use of 45 megabit
per second technology for the NSFNET Backbone Service. NSFNET now
carries a volume of information that approximately equals the holdings
of the Library of Congress EACH MONTH, and MCI's announcement
indicates the potential to carry more than 50 times that much
traffic."
SONET, which stands for Synchronous Optical Network, is a
high-speed transmission technology that MCI is using to hasten the
widespread availability of broadcast quality videophones, electronic
data interchange (EDI), long distance medical imaging, multimedia
education, movies on demand, and a single-number Personal
Communications Service (PCS) that will use the same pocket-sized
telephone anywhere in the world.
High-speed SONET technology was deployed in half of MCI's network
at year-end 1993, far outpacing its long distance rivals. Under the
development program announced today, SONET will be available
throughout MCI's domestic network by the end of 1994 and on
international routes across the Atlantic and the Pacific by 1995. The
company said it will further increase carrying speeds on existing
fiber from 2.5 gigabits (billion bits) per second to more than 10
gigabits per second by 1995.
MCI Metro
As another element of its long-range vision, the company announced
the creation of MCI Metro, a wholly owned subsidiary that is expected
to invest $2 billion in fiber rings and local switching infrastructure
in major U.S. metropolitan markets. Through its metropolitan area
facilities, MCI will connect directly to customers and begin providing
alternative local telecommunications services. Referring to these
connections as "digital on/off ramps" to the nationwide information
superhighway, Roberts noted that they would be a vital addition to
America's economic infrastructure for the 21st Century. Construction
has already begun in Atlanta, with completion expected there by mid-
year.
Roberts announced the appointment of two key executives to lead
this subsidiary. Executive vice president Gary M. Parsons will be
chief executive officer of MCI Metro, and senior vice president Nate
A. Davis will become its chief operating officer. The subsidiary owns
properties and rights-of-way in several hundred cities.
"MCI Metro will ensure the availability of superior local access
facilities at reasonable cost," said Roberts. "During the last
decade, MCI was instrumental in bringing the benefits of competition
to the long distance marketplace. During the next decade, we must
secure those same benefits for customers of local telephone service.
In addition, these digital backbone facilities will strongly position
MCI in the emerging markets of interactive multimedia and wireless
PCS."
networkMCI
Roberts said that networkMCI is being introduced to the public via
a national advertising campaign utilizing television, magazines and
newspapers to explain the company's vision to consumers, businesses,
investors and potential partners.
"When we announced our global alliance with BT (British Telecom)
last year, we said that the added financial flexibility would allow us
to invest in America's infrastructure, economy and future," said
Roberts. "With networkMCI, we have cast a strategy to deliver on that
promise, and then some."
MCI expects that other partner companies with complementary skills
and resources will participate in projects within the overall
networkMCI vision, through equity stakes, joint ventures or other
business arrangements.
"As telecommunications, computing and television converge, no one
company will have the infrastructure and the skills to do everything
alone," said Roberts. "Partnering is smart strategy for the 1990's,
and MCI has proven repeatedly that it doesn't have to own and control
another party in order to work together effectively."
MCI cited a number of customer usage trends underlying the
decision to make the additional multibillion dollar investments. The
company has been growing more than twice as fast as the long distance
industry as a whole, and is winning the lion's share of growth in the
booming market for international calls to and from the U.S. Data
traffic is another major growth factor, with business customers' usage
of data communications expected to surpass voice by 1998. In wireless
communications, the superior performance of the emerging PCS
technology is expected to help drive the total number of wireless
devices in the U.S. to 70 million by the turn of the century, which
will increase network usage.
"Beyond the long-term vision," Roberts continued, "there are a
number of immediate benefits that networkMCI brings to the everyday,
workaday MCI network. We have created this long-term strategy to meet
the demands of a nation of teleconsumers who use telecommunications
more frequently and in more ways than ever before. American
businesses of all sizes want competitive advantage from their
communications. And potential partners in this arena want to create
new opportunities. With networkMCI, there will be a clear path to
follow."
MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers a full range of
domestic and global telecommunications services through one of the
world's largest state-of-the-art networks. With annual revenue of
more than $12 billion, the company is the second largest long distance
provider in the U.S. and has more than 65 offices in 55 countries and
places.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 01:23:50 EST
From: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Subject: "Caller Pays" Cellular Airtime
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
Recently, someone announced that Colorado would be having calls to 579
exchange charged for as "caller pays" cellular airtime in addition to
toll charges. It's been asked whether or not people could call this
number from out of state. The AT&T Operator quoted me the standard
26c for a call to 303-579.
But let's not forget that long distance calls are going to net between
2 and 5c in local termination charges from the carrier anyway, so the
caller is paying something for the connection.
The person who mentioned this told that U.S. West offered a number to
call 1-800-USW-BILL for questions. Surprizingly enough, this number
does work from Maryland. That 800 number apparently handles
surcharged lines including 900, 976 and cellular airtime.
The clerk, a person with a very strong foreign accent, indicated that
the 579 exchange is a "caller pays" exchange. If someone (in
Colorado) calls a 579 number, the caller pays for the airtime. If the
user of a 579 number calls someone, they pay for their airtime.
I asked whether this was something akin to a 900 or 976 number, trying
to explain to the woman what I meant (a number where the called party
gets a fee for each incoming call) and apparently she got the gist of
what I was trying to point out, in that the caller is surcharged for a
call made to the number.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 10:14:41 EST
From: Carl Moore <
[email protected]>
Subject: Dialing Changes for Delaware
I have heard from Carl Drake, over whose name a letter had been sent
to Delaware customers regarding new area code 610 in Pennsylvania. He
says the Delaware PUC (public utility commission) ordered 1 + 10D for
long distance within Delaware; permissive is to start April 1 and
mandatory is to come Jan. 7, 1995 (latter is the same as the full
cutover for 610 in Pennsylvania). (Delaware is area code 302.)
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Feedlebom)
Subject: Re: Post Cool Phone Numbers - Strange Recorded Info Services
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 07:00:14 GMT
Robert L. McMillin (
[email protected]) wrote:
> (something about Zzzzzzygot Dial-a-joke which was trashed by my reader)
Interestingly enough, it's still in the new 1994 Pacific Bell white
pages. It's gotta have some kind of record for being the last number
in the phone book ... close to 15 years in a row, always the last
number in the white pages.
"839-3000, Not particularly funny, but that's the number you've
reached ..."
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Art Walker)
Subject: Re: How are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 08:09:25 GMT
David A. Kaye (
[email protected]) wrote:
> I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
> control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
> time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
> of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
> done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
As an aside, what most people *really* want is a VCR that all you have
to do is walk up to it, say "tape letterman tonight", and that's it.
Art Walker (
[email protected]) (
[email protected])
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:12:00 GMT
Subject: Re: How Are VCR Plus+ Numbers Generated
On 5 Jan 1994
[email protected] (David A. Kaye) wrote:
> I could have sworn that Toshiba or possibly Mitsui has a remote
> control device which has thumbwheel switches for day of week, date,
> time, and channel number, so that a person can read across the front
> of the unit, "Monday - 7th - 7:00 to 7:30 - pm - channel 4" and be
> done with the confusion. Has anyone seen one of these?
I've seen one of these in my local (Frederick, MD) Montgomery Wards
store: It is a slim device that has several LCD windows and a
thumbwheel by each. One for Month, Day, Channel, and Time.... and a
TRANSMIT button. It was pretty cheap, so I opened the box and looked
at the docs that came with it: It was clear to me that this device
only worked with the specific brand of VCR as it had no options for
setup for different brands. Can't remember what brand it was tho!
Dave Reus
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (David Josephson)
Subject: Re: California ANI Question
Organization: a2i network
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 09:09:15 GMT
In <
[email protected]>
[email protected] (Steve Forrette) writes:
> In <
[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Phydeaux) writes:
>> Hi! In a discussion the other day, one of my colleagues told me that
>> "ANI is illegal in California." I'm sure he meant CNID, but he
>> understands the difference and was pretty emphatic about this. I'm
>> sure someone here knows for sure.
> ANI is not illegal in California. As the Digest Editor noted, with
> very few exceptions, if you can call an 800 number, the recipient can
The CPUC tariff is the law. CPUC denied Pacific Bell's tariff filing
that would have offered CNID. Only that which is tariffed is
permissible.
> interstate commerce, and any laws that the state may have do not apply
> to them (BTW, there are no laws regarding ANI in CA that I am aware of
> anyway).
> I even have a couple of customers in CA that receive ANI delivery from
> me, either in real-time via inband DTMF, through voice mail and pager
> mail, and of course on their bills (just like any 800 service today).
> Perhaps the state may have something to say about that in the future
> if they choose to do so, but they have not chosen to do so up to now.
Yah, what could they do, make it illegal for a CA subscriber to obtain
an interstate service from you? Not too likely.
> And there is blocking available -- if callers choose not to have me or
> my customers pay for their telephone calls (which is what they are
> doing when they call an 800 number), we will never get their number.
> I guess this is a form of per-call blocking :-) (I suppose you could
> even have per-line 800 ANI blocking if you got a toll restrictor and
> programmed it to block 800 numbers :-))
I wonder if the per-number (56# or whatever it was?) CNID blocking
from here would block a INWATS ANI/CNID?
David Josephson <
[email protected]>
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: *Nothing* blocks ANI delivery. Nothing. PAT]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 08:37:25 EST
Subject: Re: Sprint (Dvorak) Modem Offer - Not Again!
Pat:
I too signed up of the Sprint Modem offer. However, I apparently
signed up too late. I talked to a Sprint Rep on Oct 6 about the
Dvorak offer and then switched to Sprint under the assumption that I
would be receiving a modem. I then waited for it to appear in the
mail.
In November, I received a bill from Sprint on an existing (but
forgotten) Sprint account that I had. It listed only the $7 charge
for my calling plan but no actual calls. I called Sprint to enquire
about this and I was told to try the 1-700 number to verify my long
distance carrier. It was still AT&T! This would explain why I had
not received my modem; I hadn't made any calls on Sprint yet. Well,
the Sprint rep told me the easiest way to rectify this was to call my
local company (Cincinnati Bell) and tell them to switch me. This I
did. Still, I waited and waited and waited for my modem.
When I called at the end of December to enquire about the status of my
modem, I was informed that since I had signed up after Oct 1st, I was
too late -- there were no more modems to be had. Wanting to minimize
the amount of hassle (my life is currently preoccupied with the birth
of my second daughter), I just asked Sprint to credit my account with
the amount of the LD switching fees so I could switch back.
I'm relating this tale of woe so that (with clear conscience) David
could send me his "extra" modem. (I'm sending him a copy of this
directly). I will gladly pay for shipping. And should he ever receive
a nasty-gram demanding the return of the modem, I will return it
to/for him. After all, he would be doing me a favor, and I want to
minimize his hassle.
Dan Osborn *
[email protected] * (513) 247-4623 * FAX: (513) 489-0819
Cincinnati Microwave Inc. * One Microwave Plaza * Cincinnati, OH 45249-9502
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well now, that's very gracious and generous
of you to agree to take that extra modem off his hands. :) Meanwhile,
back in California, I am wondering what is going on with the lawsuit against
Sprint the guys were starting based on alleged misrepresentations of the
product being shipped, etc. Can anyone bring us up to date on that side
of it? PAT]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 14:34:52 GMT
Subject: Re: 500 Channel Cable TV
Organization: AT&T
In article <
[email protected]>
[email protected]
(Bill Pfeiffer) writes:
> No, the same programmers will determine what you watch, just like a
> restaraunt manager decides what choices are on their menu. Current tv
> technology offers you a choice among the available programming.
> On-demand exists now. Nobody holds that channel selector but you.
> How does the medium of delivery change the fact that someone else
> still creates the programming?
Not totally true. With 500 channels you now open the way for more
programmers. What cable system is going to give a small time
programmer access to one of its 50 channels? Not many unless the
programmer has a proven track record. However with 500 channels they
can try many different programmers and let the consumers decide what
is popular. How many cable companies are carrying the "outdoor
channel" 24h/day? How many people have even heard of this? If you
have a satellite dish check out F2/3. Programming is so/so at best. A
few good shows and lots of commercials for gold prosper club. This
service has little chance on a 50 channel system but I am sure would
get on a 500 channel system.
>> If the cable companies think that they can compete with a fixed 500
>> channel system against on-demand video dialtone, they are doomed to go
>> the way of the dominant telecommunications company in the US of 100
>> years ago, Western Union, namely technological and competitive
>> obsolescence.
Price of the dialtone will be the factor here. Many cable pay-per-view
companys have gone under or been forced to merge with others to
survive. Why? Cost. Why would someone pay $8 to watch a movie when
just about every street corner has a video store with $1-$2 movies.
Early PPV also generated negative views of PPV with over priced and
poor quality of service.
Gary W. Sanders (N8EMR)
[email protected]
AT&T Bell Labs
614.860.5965
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 09:01:04 CST
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Re: "Anonymous Call Rejection" - Could be Dangerous
Organization: AT&T
In article <
[email protected]>
[email protected] (John R Levine)
writes:
> Does anyone actually have Anonymous Call Rejection in service now? Is
> it useful? It impresses me as one of those features which you get for
> about a week, then get rid of because it's utterly worthless. Perhaps
> I'm suffering from a failure of imagination, but I find it difficult
> to understand the mindset of people who are too scared to answer the
> phone if they don't know in advance who the call is from.
> People who are concerned about annoyance callers should consider Call
> Block, which lets you enter a list of numbers from which you won't
> receive calls. You can either enter explicit numbers, or tell it to
> add whoever just called, even if the call had CLID blocked. It's
> available the same places as other CLASS services, including some
> where CLID isn't, because it doesn't present the privacy problems.
I don't HAVE ACR (or other CLASS services) on my residential lines.
However, the first public announcement of the service was over two
years ago by Bell Atlantic, at a National Communications Forum in
Chicago. Ray Albers discussed the service, indicated the pricing and
played a recording of the announcement he received attempting to call
such a line after dialing a *67 prefix. The first service was in C&P
Maryland, but it has probably been offered elsewhere in Bell Atlantic
by now.
In discussions about this service, I don't recall "... too scared
to answer ..." being a reason for wanting the service. It was
primarily a tool to avoid unwanted calls (not repeated annoyance
calls, just unwanted ones). [I recognize some folks treat any
unwanted call as an "annoyance", but the intent is to avoid calls even
from phones that have never called before, so that Call Block is not a
reasonable option.]
In fact, Bell Atlantic was offering ACR for a small monthly fee
even to those who did not have any other CLASS features! The idea was
that the caller doesn't KNOW if you have Caller ID, but you might be
willing to use ACR as a primitive means of screening out a "class" of
callers -- those that suppress Caller ID delivery. They won't ring
your phone OR generate call waiting tones while you are on another
call. If you have call forwarding on a line with ACR active, the call
will not forward.
Also note that telco can elect to turn on supervision when
connecting to the ACR announcement, so the call will be considered
"completed" for billing purposes. Also note that Bell Atlantic was
offering ACR on a user-controlled basis; customers can turn it on and
off as desired.
See Bellcore TR-NWT-000567 for other details.
Al Varney
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 9:59:16 EST
From:
[email protected] (Janusz Purwin tel 508-952-4711)
Subject: Re: Help Needed With v.42bis
Well don't worry about if it does work or not. Firstly V.42 requires
that both modems have to have that feature enabled. Secondly it is
most useless feature ever put into modem. Its good for marketing
people to brag about and give false advertising about how faster modem
will transmit data without pointing out when it happens.
The V.42 uses Limpel-Ziff compression scheme that is based on
generating dictionary as you transfer a file. What that mean is, it
will not compress as you type. The compression ratio is related to
the type of file you will send. The text will compress to about 25 %
of its original size any other files like binaries have much lower
compression rate. But here is the catch normally ALL files are
compressed by PKzip, ARC or ARJ LHA GIF programs. Those are using
precisely same algorithm as V.42. So those files are not compressible.
If you try to compress them again the file size will be larger than
original.
The only time you might get any benefit from compression is when you
get screens of text send to you. Again you will trade size of the file
versus time (it takes time to compress on a fly) versus link speed.
... So the benefits of V.42 for the user are minimal!
Happy compressing Jan!
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 9:24:08 EST
From: Carl Moore <
[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
I do see that Brendan's mother is staying in Philadelphia, and it's
possible Brendan had to be transferred to a hospital in Philadelphia
due to the severity of his injuries. Of the places I named, two are
near Philadelphia:
Newtown, Bucks County, 215-968 prefix
Newtown Square, Delaware County, 215-353 & 356 prefixes (and at least
one other; goes to 610 later)
Newton Hamilton, zipcode 17075 in Mifflin County, is in central Pa.
West Newton (zipcode 15089 and phone prefix 412-872) is in western Pa.
in Westmoreland County.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 94 22:52 CST
From: Jim Thomas (
[email protected])
Subject: Re: Brendan Kehoe Seriously Hurt in Car Accident
Carl Moore <
[email protected]> writes:
> Where in Pennsylvania is Newton? I know of West Newton, Newtown
> Hamilton, Newtown Square, and Newtown.
Sorry for the typo. It was NEWTOWN. Here's an excerpt from the
conversation with Newtown police:
According to Newtown police, the accident was called in at 1:45 p.m,
and police arrived at 1:49 p.m. According to a police spokesperson,
Brendan was driving on Eagle Road, on which there is a stop sign at
the Rightstown road intersection, where the accident occured.
According to the police spokesperson, there was one passenger with him
who was treated and released.
Brendan was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The patient information number: (215-662-3308)
Jim Thomas
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just a reminder to readers that
Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer, the Moderators of CuD are collecting notes
for Brendan from netters everywhere and will forward them at an approp-
riate time. Please send along your notes to them. Brendan remains in
very critical condition, and as of yet the doctors have not made any
statements about an estimated time for his recovery or the extent of
the physical damage he has suffered. It is believed that full-recovery
is unlikely, and that partial rehabilitation may well be several weeks
or months. Very grim, very sad news. PAT]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V14 #14
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