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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 19 Jan 93 00:47:00 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 32

Index To This Issue:                     Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: What is Teleport? (Dave Weitzel)
    Re: What is Teleport? (David G. Lewis)
    Re: Is This A "Real" Security Alert Message? ([e-mail])
    Re: Norway Goes Eight-Digit: One Week and Counting (Eric Naggum)
    Re: Cordless Key Systems? (Todd Inch)
    Re: Looking For DID Information (Brent Capps)
    Re: Hooking up a US Modem in Czechoslovakia (Richard Budd)
    Re: US Losing Lead in Telecom - USC Report (Jim Gottlieb)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: What is Teleport?
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean VA 22102
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 20:26:42 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail].
ac.be (Johan Vounckx) writes:

> I've recently heard the word "teleport".  It seems to be a place where
> companies can make use of lots of communication services, like
> videoconferences, ...
> Can anyone give me more information on that?  Are there some teleports
> existing?  (It seems that in Torino, Italy, there is one.)

> [Moderator's Note: A company in the USA headquartered in New York City
> called 'Teleport' provides local telco bypass service to a few large
> companies both in that city and a few other places such as Chicago.  PAT]

Many cities over the past decade or more have had (sometimes with
political support) "teleports" established nearby.  The original idea
was to have a concentrated group of satellite earth stations to
direct, redirect etc.  outbound, inbound, and satellite hopping
communications (video, voice, data, or whatever).  Usually these
"teleports" were kept out of the city center on nearby cheaper land.
For example Washington Teleport is near D.C. in Alexandria.  These
"teleports" were sometimes supported by business and political
interests in the "let's be the city of the future" kind of way.

Anyway, if you are trying to get landline access to the "teleport"
from the city center some other savings can accrue.  The "teleport"
may assist in the acquisition or bypassing of the local monopoly
telco.  Why wait until the signal reaches the teleport before you earn
cash?  Bundle and go.  So, this is how some of the "teleports" got
into the local bypass/competitive access business.  They got right of
ways to have dedicated (usually fiber) links between downtown and the
"teleport".  Once you build a self-healing fiber loop to maximize your
"teleport" users connectivity, why worry about the "teleport"?  Other
downtown businesses may just want to use the loop and not the
teleport.  Many want to get to the "teleport" since its often an
interexchange carrier point-of-presence.

Eventually companies like TCG (Teleport Communications Group on Staten
Island, nearby cheaper land, remember), MFS (Metropolitan Fiber
Systems in Oak Brook Illinois), Teleport Denver, etc. realized there
was as much or more money to be made on the alternative (to the Telco)
fiber loop than in being in the ground station business.  Within the
last several months the FCC has made it alot easier for these CAPs due
to several FCC actions on switched access interconnection.  Stay
tuned, it will be one of the hot telecommunications fights of the
90's.  Over 50 US cities now have CAPs.


Dave Weitzel
"standard disclaimer, and BTW I do NOT work for any of these guys on
either side"

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

From: [e-mail] (david.g.lewis)
Subject: Re: What is Teleport?
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 14:23:36 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail].
ac.be (Johan Vounckx) writes:


> I've recently heard the word "teleport".  It seems to be a place where
> companies can make use of lots of communication services, like
> videoconferences, ...

> Can anyone give me more information on that?  Are there some teleports
> existing?  (It seems that in Torino, Italy, there is one.)

teleport (n): A location, usually including an office complex, which
incorporates advanced telecommunications facilities available to
tenants and occasionally to other parties.

Teleport, the (n): An office complex in New York City, Borough of
Staten Island, jointly owned by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, Merrill Lynch, and other minority investors, with advanced
telecommunications facilities provided by Teleport Communications
Group (q.v.) and IDB Inc.  (Teleport operates all switched and
dedicated landline and microwave facilities; IDB operates the
satellite earth stations.)

Teleport Communications Group, Inc.: A close-held corporation jointly
owned by Cox Enterprises (majority shareholder) and Tele-Communications,
Inc. (minority shareholder), which owns and operates primarily
fiber-optic facilities as a Competitive Access Provider, providing
leased-line services at rates from DDS (64kb/s and subrate) through
DS3 (45Mb/s) in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, and Dallas.

Teleport, Denver: A Competitive Access Provider unrelated to Teleport
Communications Group.

Teleport, Bay Area: A teleport (q.v.) located in the San Francisco area.

teleport (v): To instantaneously move from one location to another,
usu. via parapsychic means.

> [Moderator's Note: A company in the USA headquartered in New York City
> called 'Teleport' provides local telco bypass service to a few large
> companies both in that city and a few other places such as Chicago.  PAT]

More than a few (more like over a hundred).  Locations are shown
above; there may be some others since I left there (1991).


David G Lewis                              AT&T Bell Laboratories
[e-mail] or !att!goofy!deej     Switching & ISDN Implementation

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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Is This A "Real" Security Alert Message Of Some Sort?
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 13:44:31 CST


> Got this while logging in to a BBS a month or two ago.  I was doing
> the "new user look around" thingie.  I didn't bother calling back.

> It looks a bit like those fake messages that sysops sometimes send in
> order to scare people off.  The "NO CARRIER" bit came when they
> dropped carrier on me.
> ---start included text---

How did the phone company manage to disconnect the far end modem and
connect theirs without causing a loss of carrier or at least some line
noise.  (Yes, its technically possible, but I doubt any switches out
there have the capability).


> CYBERTRON CORP!  (R)Telecommunications Security Node:#264839-LL

> NOTIFICATION: FCC-#9632852 - LINE VERIFICATION IN PROGRESS!

The FCC does not do line verifications.

> ROUTE LINE IS CURRENTLY BEING FORWARDED TO:
> {DT*2VRP}(c) CALIFORNIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION!

What is a "route line" and how can it be forwarded?

> You have commited a FELONY, according to the FCC ruling #6828744
> Telecommunications Privacy Act (1989) Section IV - 3529A-6 Municipal
> Code of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND IT'S AGENTS HEREIN ...

The United States does not have a municipal code.  Municipalities
(cities, etc.)  have municipal codes.  Also, if this was forwarded to
the Calif. Bureau of Investigation, it would be California author-
ities, not federal ones, handling it.

> Therefore, you are hereby WARNED! Any further attempt to contact this
> customer will result in CRIMINAL PROSECUTION and/or EXTRADITION by
> FEDERAL authorities....Your telephone number has been recorded in our
> central office!

Federal authorities do not engage in extradition.  One state can
extradite you from another.  The federal Government does not need to
go through this.  (Well, if you are in a foreign country, they do ...
but otherwise, not.)

> Thank you for using..."CYBERTRONICS SECURITY RESOURCES"

> Summary: Notify Police and local phone company? YES!
>         Continue to monitor violator? YES!
> Total time logged was 1 minute(s), with 24 minutes remaining for
> 07/25/92.

> Thank you for calling, Eric.

> NO CARRIER


> ---end encluded text---


Brett   ([e-mail])

P.S.  Of course, I know this is totally fake, and didn't even take it
seriously from the start ... but it's interesting to see how little
sense it makes when it is closely analyzed ...

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

From: Erik Naggum <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: Erik Naggum <[e-mail]>
Date: 18 Jan 1993 07:04:30 +0100
Subject: Re: Norway Goes Eight-Digit: One Week and Counting


[Morten Reistad]

>   [Numbering plan changes]

>     02 XX XX XX  Within Asker      66 XX XX XX  ...
>     02 XX XX XX  Within Baerum     67 XX XX XX  ...

>   And, if dialing any of the above from abroad you dial +47 XX XX XX XX,
>   while the rest of the country is still +47 A XX XX XX or +47 AA XX XXX.

There is something fishy here, and no one I have talked to (or tried
to) in our beloved and caring Phone Company have been able to help me.

Area codes 066 and 067 are in use at present, and they will change at
some later date, June 3, I think.  Between January 28 and June 3,
then, subscribers in Baerum will have international phone numbers like:

    +47 67 xx xx xx

whereas subscribers in the existing 067 area will have international phone
numbers like:

    +47 67 xx xxx

OK, so my question to the phone company is how they're going to deal
with this variable length dialing sequences that Norway has never
suffered before.  Apparantly, they don't plan to do anything at all.
Nobody calls these remote mountain villages from abroad, anyway, I
guess.

> Doing such a thing at 16:00 is outragous. On a Thursday, when all
> shops have open late is even worse. Guess it's still "We don't care.
> We don't have to. We're The Phone Company". And there is NO permissive
> dialing period. Go figure.

Please be more considerate, Morten.  The phone company employees have
families, too, and doing this at night would be terrible for them, I'm
sure.  Remember, most of them had to be at work at 0730, and they'll
appreciate being able to leave early on Thursdays to make it to the
shops that are open late, like the rest of us.

There are rumors that there will be automatic recordings to tell you
what new number you should call.  I'm sure they'll charge callers for
that information.  Calling DA from a phone booth now costs you >$2 a
minute.

I've always appreciated silence, and I guess I'll get plenty of it
soon.  Those ringing phones have been a plague and an annoyance for
years.  At last, they do something to help us stressed out independent
consultants, and what a wonderful excuse when you failed to call back
to an "old" number.  Oh, I love it.

Actually, what amazes me is that nobody have come forth with little
devices that will allow you to dial old and new numbers all through
1993 and they will take care of the translation to the new number when
appropriate.  What amazes me even more is that they haven't done the
entire country en bloc.

And this in a country where people can't remember their area code in
the first place, and where getting their four-digit zip code right is
a major feat for most Oslovians.


Best regards,

Erik Naggum        ISO  8879 SGML                   [phone]
Oslo, Norway       ISO 10744 HyTime   Watch this space ^
<[e-mail]>   ISO  9899 C
<[e-mail]>  ISO 10646 UCS

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

From: [e-mail] (Todd Inch)
Subject: Re: Cordless Key Systems?
Organization: Maverick International Inc.
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 18:23:01 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Jonathan Edwards) writes:

> I am thinking of putting a "key" phone system into my home. The main
> reason for this is to gain paging capability.  But I also want to be
> able to use cordless phones.  I presume that if this is possible at
> all I would lose the paging function at the cordless phones.  Is there
> any solution to this, or should I just install a separate intercom?

I suppose it depends on how much of a telecom do-it-yourselfer you
are.  Radio Shack sells (sold?) a paging adapter that you plug all
your phones into and then plug it into the telco jack, then press * to
page or somesuch.  It has relay outputs and an adjustable line-level
audio output to be fed into a PA amplifier to drive speakers.

If you have one/more cordless phones with a paging button, you could
have the relay contacts run the paging button (a simple solder job) or
drive several remote-located relays if you have more than one cordless
phone.

Then put a PA speaker near the base station's microphone.  Total cost:
about $50 if you have an amp and speakers laying around (any old
stereo will work as an amp -- I pick them up all the time at garage
sales for $10, including a wonderful Marantz tuner/amp with 80 Watt
RMS outputs that is driving my walkman-style headphones in my office
and acting a corporate music-on-hold at the moment.)

If you want a PBX/key system anyway, a small system that supports
single-line analog phones will also support your cordless phone(s)
and, if not built-in, a paging adapter that essentially replaces an
extension phone and automatically picks up intercom calls are
available for $100 or less.  Then you'd need to use external paging
and be near a speaker with your cordless, or use the above relay-type
kludge to hit the cordless's base-station button.  Maybe a VOX circuit
on the paging speakers instead?

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

From: [e-mail] (Brent Capps)
Subject: Re: Looking For DID Information
Organization: Atlas Telecom Inc.
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 19:19:22 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Roy M.
Silvernail) writes:

> This little quest is inspired by John Higdon's recent DID discussion.
> Can someone provide me a pointer to the DID signalling spec?
> Hopefully, it's on an ftp site somewhere, although I didn't see any
> mention in the Telecom Archives index PAT posted last week.  Or do I
> need to go to Bellcore for this?  (If so, got a document number?)

Well, I've done a lot of DID design work but I've never run into a
spec devoted solely to DID.  It is described in the LSSGR section 6,
of course, but the LSSGR is probably *major* overkill for what you
want.

For 'conventional' one-way analog DID where the customer supplies -48V
battery, try the Notes on the BOC InterLATA Networks TR-NPL-000275 (my
copy is from '86, but they came out with an updated version 2 years
ago) section 6, DID signaling.  This type of DID signaling is just a
combination of wink-start/immediate-start/delay-dial signaling, loop
reverse-battery supervision and DTMF/MF/DP outpulsing.  Nothing magic
to it, but you should be aware that the scheme John is talking about
may be considered infringement on a patent held by Brooktrout
Technologies of Natick, MA.  They make fax/voice response PC cards
with an on-board DID interface for just the purpose you described.

For the new two-way analog DID, just substitute two-wire E&M
supervision for the loop reverse-battery on the trunk and go about
your merry way.  This service was just tariffed last year by USW here
in Portland OR.

For digital DID, all you need to do is specify the proper type of
supervision on the A/B bits, loop signaling or E&M signaling, and
whether you want to use wink-start signaling, DTMF, etc.

For DNIS, you just tell MCI or whomever that you want the dialed
number to be provided on your incoming 800 calls.

If you have specific questions you can drop me an e-mail at my telecom
address and I'll try to give you a hand, time permitting.


Brent Capps
[e-mail] (gay stuff)
[e-mail] (telecom stuff)

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 10:41:38 EDT
From: Richard Budd <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Hooking up a US Modem in Czechoslovakia

Organization: CSAV UTIA


[e-mail] (Raul Rathmann) asks in TELECOM Digest V13.18:

> I have a friend of a friend that is teaching at university in
> Czechoslovakia.  He wants to hook up a modem to the university phone
> system.  I'm assuming that he can use the extension line coming in to
> his office to dial out, then with his modem hooked up, he can get the
> modem to grab the connection with an AT command and he's on his way.

Is he using a modem designed for RJ11 or for the local telephone
system?  If it is for American telephones, he is going to need an RJ11
adapter, (Easy to find at any Radio Shack but a little tough here in
Prague). Then he must take the cover off the extension plug and wire
the adapter into the phone line.  Without an adapter, he can cut the
plug off one end of the modem's connection to the telephone line, pull
out the blue and brown wires inside that line, and attach them into
the extension's outlet.  That is our setup with the Gandalf 24EC.

He is probably also going to have to reconfigure the modem itself to
adjust to local conditions.  Instructions to do so will be in the
user's guide with the modem.  In November, I installed a 1200 baud
Hayes external modem an American high school contributed to a school
here in Prague.  We used the procedure described above using an RJ11
adapter.

The modem will also require an MNP-5 card.  Otherwise, all he'll get
is garbage characters because the phone lines here have a lot of
background noise.  The MNP-5 tests the line to determine what comes
over are actually data bits, and not the next door neighbor or the
buzzing sound I always get when calling cross town.

When he has his modem running, I would advise him to set it to 1200
bps.  Believe it or not, the modem will run faster at this setting
because the MNP-5 card will not have to correct as many bad characters
generated by background noise.

> By the way, he has said that there is no way to get this info from
> the university, they're in the dark ages and information is not
> readily shared.

In which university is he teaching?  Of course, I work with 'techies'
and we are constantly sharing data.  Also, this is Prague.  I just
returned from spending several weeks in a town in eastern Slovakia and
believe me, felt at times like I had warped to the 1950s.  Went to the
equivalent of prom night at the local gymnasium and thought in the
next minute Fonzie from 'Happy Days' would walk in and say 'Heeeyy'.

PS Thanks for all the responses to my question about the modem failing
to go off-line when the connection ended.


Richard Budd  | USA  [e-mail]    | CR    [e-mail]
              |      139 S. Hamilton St.    |       Kolackova 8
              |      Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 |       18200 Praha 8

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

From: [e-mail] (Jim Gottlieb)
Subject: Re: US Losing Lead in Telecom - USC Report
Organization: Info Connections, West Los Angeles
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 02:46:19 GMT


[e-mail] (Ang Peng Hwa) writes:

> The study added: "During this remarkable period of rapid technological
> progress and obsolescence, asset lives for public network equipment of
> local exchange companies have actually increased in the US. Nations
> like Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore and others write off and
> replace equipment twice as fast as most US carriers."

I suspect it is much easier to upgrade existing facilities when your
country is much smaller than the vast United States.  What does
Singapore have to do to upgrade to digital?  Cut a few cables and run
a few fiber strands?


Jim Gottlieb   E-Mail: [e-mail]
V-Mail: [phone]   Fax: [phone]   Voice: 824-5454

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #32
*****************************
---
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From: TELECOM Moderator <[e-mail]>
Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #32

<=============================================================================>
    To:  ELIOT GELWAN             Date: 01-19-93 (05:47)
  From:  USENET GATEWAY           Message:  85589      Refer:  0
  Subj:  TELECOM DIGEST V13 #33   Conf: 700 (EMAIL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·  Newsgroup: Private mail
·       From: TELECOM
·    Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #33

TELECOM Digest     Tue, 19 Jan 93 02:13:00 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 33

Index To This Issue:                     Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    FCC Awards Pioneers Preference to Volunteers in Tech Assistance (N. Allen)
    Attempted Mindvox Break-in (John F. McMullen)
    Alteration of Ring Cadence (Charles Mattair)
    Do Telcos Record the Numbers of Local Calls? (Denis Coskun)
    Updated Bellcore Report on Future of N. American Number Plan (D. Leibold)
    Top Ten Traumas? (Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton)
    Re: Area Code 610 (Spyros Bartsocas)
    Re: Area Code 610 (Carl Moore)
    Re: Can Paging Software Detect Alphanumerics? (Guy Hadsall)
    Re: Can Paging Software Detect Alphanumerics? (Craig R. Watkins)
    Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud (Rod Gamble)
    Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud (Patrick Lee)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 19:43:00 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Nigel Allen)
Subject: FCC Awards Pioneers Preference to Volunteers in Tech Assistance
Organization: Echo Beach, Toronto


Here is a press release from Volunteers in Technical Assistance.

FCC Awards Pioneers Preference to Volunteers in Technical Assistance
To: National Desk, Science Writer
Contact: Joe Sedlak of Volunteers in Technical Assistance,
         703-276-1800

   WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 -- The Federal Communications Commission today
allocated four MHz of VHF/UHF spectrum to the Mobile Satellite Service
for the low-earth orbit satellites (LEO-MSS) and finalized the
tentative pioneer's preference awarded to Volunteers in Technical
Assistance (VITA).

   The award is the first pioneer preference granted by the
commission.

   Henry Norman, president of VITA, said "We are deeply gratified by
the action taken by the FCC.  VITA's global communications network is
designed to bring scientific and technical knowledge to the poor in
developing countries.  The Pioneer's Preference given to VITA for
advancing the technology and extending communications to people not
now served indicates a recognition that the poor of the world should
not be denied a share in benefits of modern technology.

   The FCC stated that it awarded the pioneer's preference to VITA
because it was the first to develop and demonstrate the utility of a
small low earth orbiting satellite system for civilian communications
purposes.  The commission also noted that VITA's pioneering efforts
led to this proceeding authorizing spectrum for LEOs to provide
services that will provide low-cost data communications between ground
stations located anywhere in the world.

   VITA's system, VITASAT, is designed to provide data communications
between 1,000 ground stations, most of them located in developing
countries.  A major use of the global network will be for disaster
prevention, preparedness and mitigation communications.

   Norman said, "Our goal is to help bring the poor people of the
developing world into the information mainstream of development.  VITA
is really about inclusion -- extending the benefits of modern science
and technology to the poor."

   VITA has already installed ground stations connected to the VITASAT
prototype, the PACSAT Communications Experiment, in Sierra Leone,
Djibouti, Indonesia, Pakistan, Ireland, the South Pole, and at the
Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

   "Today's FCC decision is very important to the development of the
VITASAT program," said Helena Wisniewski, VITA's vice president of
communications technology.  "The FCC's granting the Pioneer's
Preference has been the catalyst for the development of the next
generation of fully-automated ground stations which will be less
expensive and easier to use than our prototypes in the field today."

   VITASAT is one part of a system called VITACOMM that also includes
terrestrial digital packet radio networks in several countries
(VITAPAC), and an electronic E-Mail system (VITANET).  VITACOMM is
designed to link people with the rest of the world.

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

Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario    [e-mail]

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

Subject: Attempted Mindvox Break-in
From: [e-mail] (John F. McMullen)
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 13:55:17 EST
Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system


The following was carried on {Newsbytes} today -- feel free to
re-publish it (as long as it carries the permission).  John

THe following appeared on {Newbytes}, a copyrighted commercial
service, on January 18, 1993. It is republished here with the express
consent of the authors:

Phantom Access Foils Cracking Attempt 01/18/93 NEW YORK, NEW YORK,
U.S.A.,1993 JAN 18 (NB) -- An attempt to illegally break into, or
"crack" the "Mindvox" conferencing stem contained in Phantom Access, a
flat-rate New York-based online service recently featured in various
news publications, was detected and rebuffed.

Bruce Fancher, co-owner of Phantom Access, told {Newsbytes}, "There
was no real damage and we have notified all of our users about the
attempt in the hope that they will be even more conscious of security.
The nature of this attempt points out one of the things that users of
any on-line system must be aware of in order to protect her/his
privacy."

The attempt came to the attention of the owners of the system, Fancher
and Patrick Kroupa, when subscribers reported receiving the following
message:

"It has been brought to my attention that your account has been
'hacked' by an outside source. The charges added were quite
significant which is how the error was caught. Please temporarily
change your password to 'DPH7' so that we can judge the severity of
the intrusion. I will notify you when the problems has been taken care
of. Thank you for your help in this matter. -System Administrator"

The system owners immediately sent a message to all subscribers
declaring the message to be fraudulent. In addition to pointing out
the textual errors in the message -- for example, Mindvox is a "flat
rate" system and charges are not accumulated -- the owners admonished
users to both safeguard their passwords and insure that they are not
easy to decipher.

Fancher told {Newsbytes} that the review of Mindvox in a recent issue
of Mondo 2000, its mention in an issue of {Forbes}, and his speaking
engagements on behalf of the system have led to more rapid growth than
had been anticipated. He said, "We are moving to larger space on
February 1st and will be upgrading our equipment from a single Next
system to multiple Suns. We will also increase the number of dial-in
ports and greatly increase the speed of our Internet connection. We
are very grateful for the user response to date."

(Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/Press Contact: Bruce Fancher,
Phantom Access, [e-mail] (e-mail), 212-254-3226, voice/19930115)

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

John F. McMullen           [e-mail]    Consultant,
[e-mail]        [e-mail]            Writer,
[e-mail]   [e-mail]                 Student,
GEnie - nb.nyc             [e-mail]                     Teacher

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 12:57:17 CST
From: [e-mail] (Charles Mattair)
Subject: Alteration of Ring Cadence
Organization: Synercom Technology, Inc., Houston, TX


We've got three lines coming into our residence:
    . main number which rings downstairs (one two line phone upstairs)
    . modem number - no ringers attached
    . daughter's number which rings upstairs (one two line phone downstairs)

Due to our house's layout and phone locations, you can hear any ringer
throughout most of the house.  The problem is exactly that -- which
line is ringing.

Converting all phones to multiline really isn't an answer -- they're
expensive and we really don't need (want) access to both voice lines
all over the house.  Does anybody make a (relatively) inexpensive
device to convert ring cadence.

SWB does not offer alternate cadences on a primary number or I would
do that.  The order clerk suggested getting a second number with
Distinctive Ring (sm) on one of the lines and not using the primary
number for that line.

Thanks.


Charles Mattair                 [e-mail]
Any opinions offered are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

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

From: [e-mail] (Denis Coskun)
Subject: Do Telcos Record the Numbers of Local Calls?
Organization: Alias Research, Inc., Toronto ON Canada

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 00:15:43 -0500


Do telcos record the dialed digits for all local calls?

My back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that it is entirely
feasible for telcos to store the number of every single local call
that you dial: In a city with 1,000,000 phones, with an average of 10
calls a day on each phone, and logging both origin and destination
phone numbers (7 digits each, so 14 ASCII characters), such a log
would consume just 1,000,000 * 10 * 14 = 140 Mbytes per day.  That
would fit on a tape which costs less than $20.

If they do keep such logs, what do they use it for and how long do
they keep it?  And if not, how can you be sure that they don't?  Are
there laws anywhere that prevent such activity?  There couldn't be a
blanket restriction against it because they do log long distance
calls.

In regions where you have measured service for local calls (rather
than a flat rate), do you get an itemized list of all your local
calls?


[Moderator's Note: We here in Chicago do not routinely get a detailed
list of local calls, however it is possible, and I have received such
a list when I requested it. I think they save the paper for a few
months and the microfilm forever. This cuts both ways: When I once
complained about excessive usage on my line, a prim and very smug
service rep promised to send me the print out so I could see the error
of my ways ...

When I reviewed the print out in detail, I found a number of calls to
internal numbers at IBT; that is, doing a cross-check of the name and
address came up with results like 'IBT Company Supply Depot' and 'IBT
Company Vehicle Repair Garage', all made at times like eight in the
morning when I could not possibly have been at the phone in question.
It turned out that a major (like 5000 pairs) demarc in the basement of
the office building next door was a hangout for several installer/
repair guys who drank coffee and shot the bull there in their spare
time. They also kept lots of supplies in a locker there.  My line very
conveniently showed up multipled on the first strip in that demarc;
anyone calling the supply depot, their foreman, their wife or
girlfriend, to get a truck, etc clipped their butt set right on there
and made the call.

When I called Ms. Prim back, we read selected parts of the print out
together in unison.  I told her, "I call that theft of service and/or
fraud, what do you call it?"  After a couple minutes on hold, her
supervisor came on the line and told me IBT would write off *all*
message units on my bill for the past three months. I told her that
was very nice, but to please have her supervisor tell the outside
plant supervisor to tell his foreman to tell his guys to lay off my
line -- they must have one of their own down there they could use.
The calls ceased after that.  This all occurred in 1973, within months
of the CO I was in then converting to ESS after 60 years of stepping
switches.  I might add they knew the SxS was on the way out; for the
final six months of the old 'Wabash Cannonball' (Chicago-Wabash CO)
they let it go to hell, doing absolutely no routine work at all, and
it sounded like it at the end!  :)   PAT]

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 23:15:30 EST
From: David Leibold <[e-mail]>
Subject: Updated Bellcore Report on Future of N. American Number Plan


I just received a document from Bellcore entitled "North American
Numbering Plan Administrator's Proposal on the Future of Numbering in
WZ1 - Second Edition", an update to last year's document outlining the
future of North American telephone numbering.

Like its predecessor, this document is being made available for
general release to industry for review. There is a related industry
forum scheduled for 16-18 March 1993 in the Washington DC area;
comments will be handled under "ANSI procedures, i.e. a
contribution-driven consensus process".

There is "a recommendation to form both a world Zone 1 and a United
states Numbering Steering Committee" in section 9 of the report.

To obtain this document, try writing to Fred Gaechter, NANP
Administration, Bellcore - Room 1B225, 290 West Mt Pleasant Avenue,
Livingston NJ USA 07039 (fax [phone]). I will review the
document to see what other details are present.


[e-mail]

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

Subject: Top Ten Traumas?
From: [e-mail] (Dr. Ross Alan Stapleton)
Date: 18 Jan 1993 20:40 MST
Organization: University of Arizona MIS Department


While this is perhaps most appropriate to RISKS, and I'll solicit
there as well, what would I need to list as the top ten cases of
damage/loss due to telecommunications accidents, disasters, cases of
sabotage, etc?  I would call the Chicago flood such a thing, as one
disaster caused a telecommunications failure, which in turn was
disasterous in terms of those who were deprived services.  The
switching center power failure in New York that caused, among other
things, the whole northeast air traffic control system to go comatose
is another good candidate.  Is there a good way to assess net losses,
so as to ever produced a ranked list?


Ross

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 15:12:01 +0200
From: [e-mail] (Spyros Bartsocas)
Subject: Re: Area Code 610


The ad features an "International TeleFRIENDS" logo.  The whole ad
is in a box.  In the border of the box the following countries are
listed: MEXICO, USA, THAILAND, ITALY, AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, HOLLAND,
SPAIN, ENGLAND, GERMANY, CHILE, ARGENTINA, BRAZIL and something that
ends in ANCE.

The ad goes as follows:

Do you speak any English? (This line in Greek) Do you want to make new
friends all over the world?  Call International Telefriends day or
night and speak with up to 15 people at the same time about travel,
life and romance. Call now!

001 610 204 2907

15 Seconds cost 107 Drachmas (this line in Greek).
(This is a few cents less than 50 cents).

In the same section of the paper there are three more adds.  All of
them list KING FISHER INC.  Each add has in a different country code.
All of them are sex lines.  The first few digits of the numbers are:

00.852.17.nn.nn.nn.nn (cost 144 GDM/ 15 Sec)

00.611.41.nn.nn (cost 139 GDM/ 15 Sec)

and

00 525 809 nn nn (cost 91 GDM/ 15 Sec)
00 525 809 nn nn

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

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 9:51:27 EST
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Area Code 610


By the way, those special services dialable only from overseas in
"area 610" are on 610-204-xxxx, according to earlier postings.

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

Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 20:10:31 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Can Paging Software Detect Alphanumerics?


Brad,

Everything depends upon the Paging Company's paging terminal and
gateway.  Most of the *new* paging terminal front ends handle it, but
who in their right (business) mind would invest big bucks into new
equipment that is planned on being obsolete in two years?

My recommendation is to get really friendly with yur paging company,
or a competitors technicans; sales people havent a clue, their job is
sell.

Hope this helps.


Peace

GuyH

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

From: Craig R. Watkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Can Paging Software Detect Alphanumerics?

Date: 18 Jan 93 11:25:40 EST
Organization: HRB Systems, Inc.


In article <[e-mail]>, mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU=
[e-mail] writes:

> Is it possible under the IXO/TAP protocol, or any companies'
> interpretations of it, to detect whether or not a particular pager
> number can receive text pages?

I haven't seen any indication.

When we send IXO pages to digit display pagers, it just takes whatever
numbers are in the message and sends them, ignoring all the alpha.

> .... But the paging computer I call also sends
> an error message, I think it's <CR><NAK><CR> error message <CR>.  This
> is fine by the spec, which says that after you transmit, you're
> supposed to ignore anything other than the ACK, NAK, or ESC-EOT.

I have seen thoese "messages" come in different places from different
switches.  Some before the <NAK>, some after, etc.

> Now what I'd really like, is for the paging computer to detect that
> I'm trying to send an alphabetic page to a numeric-only pager and give
> me a <NAK> with an error message that says so.

I think what you mean is you want an <RS> followed by the message
(which would mean a reject) rather than a <NAK> which I've always
interpreted as a data error which should be retried.

> Would this be a reasonable thing to ask the folks at Cybertel and/or
> Skytel to support?

It would be nice info to know if the paging terminal knows.  However
to get it implemented, I'm not sure how much control they have over
their paging terminal manufacturer.  Since the protocol is pretty dumb
to begin with and there's not much you can derive from it now, I'm not
sure much software (other than possibly your's) would take advantage
of it.


Craig R. Watkins    [e-mail]
HRB Systems, Inc.   [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (Rod Gamble)
Subject: Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud
Organization: Sydney University Computing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 12:10:14 GMT


> Bank card passwords are stored in encrypted form (one way encryption
> using the DES algorithm on a combination of the account number, user
> selected PIN and a few other things) which allows for local
> verification of passwords but only by your own bank.  There are two
> different standards by which this is done, but each has a
> bank-specific encryption key (often refered to as the Pin Verification
> Key, or PVK).  This key is kept highly confidential -- anyone with the
> key could generate the hashed pin for each possible password (only
> 10,000 in the typical four digit password) , compare each to the
> hashed value on the card, and decode the PIN that way.

> Your own back can verify the password within the ATM; other bank's ATM's
           ^^^^
> must query your bank via the network.

    About two or three years ago the Bank of England (for some
reason or other) decided to find out what people used as words for
there PINs . Well guess what ... If you found a BoE card in the
street you had a 56% chance of using it in a ATM machine if you used a
four lettered word beginning with F*** Only a 18% chance with S**T and
13% with C***. Either the Brits are very unimaginary (and I really
don't think they are in the English speaking world) or that is
probably the case both here or in the USA. It only left 13% with
various other PINs.

    Also another bank in England again which had user choice
numbers had a huge group of people that just used the last four digits
of there telephone number. I can't remember what is was exactly but it
was around the 40% mark.

Gee just my luck to find one with a PIN of Rumplestiltskin!! Oh well


Cheers de Rod

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

From: Patrick Lee <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 18:33:21 -0500 (EST)


[e-mail] (Ed Oliveri) wrote:

> Are you sure this was Citibank?  Every Citibank ATM I've seen
> CANNOT eat a card since the card is dipped into the card
> reader, never leaving the user's fingers.

Our Moderator Noted:

-> The Citibank ATM's in Chicago eat the card for a minute and
-> spit it out when finished with it.

I guess Chicago's Citibank has older ATM machines than we have here in
New York City.  I haven't seen any Citibank ATM machine which eats the
card for the past few years.  Just dip the card in and take it out and
proceed with answering which of the five languages to use.


Patrick <[e-mail]>

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #33
*****************************
---
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Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #33

<=============================================================================>
    To:  ELIOT GELWAN             Date: 01-20-93 (10:24)
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  Subj:  TELECOM DIGEST V13 #34   Conf: 700 (EMAIL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
·  Newsgroup: Private mail
·       From: TELECOM
·    Subject: TELECOM Digest V13 #34

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 20 Jan 93 01:36:30 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 34

Index To This Issue:                     Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service (Michael Peirce)
    Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service (David J. Greenberger)
    Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service (Ang-Peng Hwa)
    Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service (Jeffrey C. Miller)
    Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service (Jack Decker)
    Re: Apartment Security Stupidity (Mike Kimura)
    Re: Apartment Security Stupidity (Ethan Miller)
    Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud (Ed Greenberg)
    Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud (John Pettitt)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)
Subject: Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 14:34:22 PST
Organization: Peirce Software
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)


In article <[e-mail]> ([e-mail]), is
written:

>> [Moderator's Note: I've never understood why people had such a big
>> objection to simply paying for the service they use. We've had no flat

> I would suspect that it is because people consider local phone service
> to be a subscription service, just like the newspaper or cable TV.
> With the newspaper, you pay the same amount every day, regardless of
> the number of pages in the paper.  Why not pay by weight, or by
> section?  Why not pay for cable by usage?  Because it is inherently
> more convenient for the USER to conceptualize the charge and prepare
> for it.  It would annoy me every month if my local phone bill was
> different and I had to puzzle it out.  How am I going to assure myself
> that I really made those calls?  With my long distance bill, I can
> look at the city/number combos and identify 95+% of the calls
> immediately.  Surely the LEC won't itemize the local bill, and even if
> they did, how am I going to find out the 555-1234 is that wrong number
> I dialed last month?

It's interesting to note that some of the cellular vendors are
starting to introduce a sort of subscription service.

They often bundle in the first hour, say, of usage in the stardard
charge.  Usage beyond this baseline is charged for in a more
traditional way, but for that first lump sum of service you basically
have a subscription telephone service.


Michael Peirce     [e-mail]
Peirce Software    Suite 301, 719 Hibiscus Place
                   San Jose, California USA 95117
Makers of:         voice: [phone] fax: [phone]
     Smoothie      AppleLink: peirce & America Online: AFC Peirce

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

From: [e-mail] (David J. Greenberger)
Subject: Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service
Organization: Cornell Information Technologies
Date: 19 Jan 93 05:24:06 GMT


Hi, Patrick!

[e-mail] (Patrick Lee) writes:

> areas.  I can't understand why so many phone companies out there still
> have flat rate service and that their customers don't mind (and now we
> have state legislatures trying to keep flat rates alive)!  I for one
> like paying for what I use (and I do make over 300 local calls -- 10.6
> cents a call with 40 and 65 percent discounts at different times).  I
> have no problem with that even though I will probably be paying less
> with flat rate.

And I can't understand why you object to phone users in areas
supporting flat rate using it.  If the phone company thinks it can
make money off of it, what's wrong with it?  Even for users who don't
make more than three phone calls a day (which is about what Ithaca's
flat rate service is worth), they have the peace of mind of not having
to worry about how many calls they're making.  I frequently have
trouble connecting to my UNIX system, but I don't have to worry about
plugging away with flat rate service.

> I pay for what I use, fair is fair.

No, you only pay per call.  You don't pay by the minute.  You don't
pay based on distance.  Do you really think you're "using" just as
much in making a ten-second call next door as in making a four-hour
call from southern Brooklyn or Staten Island to northern Bronx?  The
cost is the same.


David J. Greenberger    BBS: [phone]
106 West Avenue         Internet: [e-mail]
Ithaca, NY 14850        RIME: Common, ->48
[phone]

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

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 17:11:48 SST
From: Ang Peng Hwa <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service


Here in Singapore, we recently swtiched to an *all-metered* system.
There is not flat rate service at all except for toll-free lines where
the firm called pays. There is an annual "access charge" of S$100
(US$61).

The rates are 1.4 Singapore cents a minute during office hours (8-5)
and 0.7 cents otherwise. That works out to about US0.85 cents and
US0.42 respectively. (They tout it as the cheapest tolls in the world.
Ha.)

Result? There was a lot of initial resistance. Today, about 78 percent
of subscribers pay less. Among my group of friends four of five have
phone bills below S$2 monthly. (In my case, it was about S65cents for
a few months.  It was so low, the phone company didn't even deduct
from our autobank.)

Singapore Telecom said it was "losing" between S$1 and S$2 million
(US$0.6 to US$1.2 million) a month even though they had designed the
system to be revenue neutral.

Businesses are paying more. In part, users like me are switching to
them instead of making calls from home.

I'm not sure if the compactness of Singapore plays a part here. But
the above may give some indication as to the economics of the local
call.

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeffrey C Miller)
Subject: Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service
Organization: Air Force Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 19:28:30 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> Rob Knauerhase <knauer@cs.
uiuc.edu> writes:

> I mailed an article here last Thanksgiving about Ohio Bell's sales
> pitches for their relatively new measured-service variants, commenting
> that my mother's phone bill listed an _increase_ if she switched to
> any of their new plans (based on her typical usage).  Someone from
> this group mailed me privately warning that in Michigan there was now
> no option of flat-rate, and to watch out for the same thing in
> OBT-land.

Yup, for the third consecutive month, OBT has told me how much extra
I'll pay if I switch to a measured service.  Darned nice of them to
remind me how economical flat-rate is.

> As I am for the time being residing in central Illinois, I'd
> appreciate it if an interested party closer to Columbus would keep the
> Digest (and/or me) informed as to how (and if!) this legislation
> proceeds.

I'll try ... after all, it's in my interests :-).

> [Moderator's Note: I've never understood why people had such a big
> objection to simply paying for the service they use. We've had no flat
> rate service in Chicago outside a very small local area for many

> Count me as one who approves of "pay for what you use'; I don't like
> paying subsidies for my neighbor's use of the phone. I don't do it for
> the electricity, water or gas they use, why should I for their phone
> calls via flat rate, averaged out pricing?  But then again, I don't
> run war dialers against entire CO's or call computer chat lines in the
> outer fringes of 708/815.  PAT]

As someone's .sig said, "those who can't talk math are doomed to talk
nonsense" (or something like that) ...

I just happen to have my latest OBT bill here right in front of me:

Touch-Tone Service : $1.80
FCC Access Charge :  $3.50
911 Service Charge : $0.12
Local Access Line  : $6.70
Flat-Rate Service  : $8.55

Now I'll be more than happy to pay for what I use just as soon as they
can tariff it in such a way that I can tell what I'm paying for.  By
my reckoning, there are four separate charges there that apply to
local calls.  Why the hell should I pay extra for the "privilege" of

Touch-Tone service when it's no more difficult for OBT to process DTMF
than DP?  Why should I pay the LEC for access to a LD carrier; why not
have that charged back through the LD carrier as a charge for access
to me as a customer, if lost revenue due to divestiture is a problem?
Why should I pay for 911 before I use it -- they're more than happy to
charge $0.30 / call for 411, why not the same for 911?

Now maybe I'm the one talking nonsense, but it seems to me some
significant overhaul is needed before we can start talking about "pay
as you use" for LEC's.


Jeff Miller,  NH6ZW/N8,  AFA1HE (ex WD6CQV, AFA8JM, AFA1DO)
AFIT School of Engineering, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH

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

Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: OBT and Flat-Rate Service
Date: 19 Jan 93 19:50:02
From: [e-mail]


Pat, I generally approve of the way you moderate this conference but I
wonder why you always feel compelled to get in "the last word" on any
message opposing mandatory measured service?  You say you don't
understand the opposition to it, yet folks have explained it to you
numerous times.  For your benefit and those of other Digest readers
(assuming you allow this article into the Digest), let me give you a
(hopefully) BRIEF summation of the arguments against measured service:

1) In the two states where voters have actually had an opportunity to
vote on the issue (Maine and Oregon), they have turned down mandatory
measured service handily.  The public doesn't want it.

2) Local calls are not itemized.  Maybe you trust your telco to count
calls accurately.  I don't.

3) You don't get credit for wrong numbers or poor connections (some-
thing of special concern to those of us who live in GTE land).

4) Unlike gas or electricity, you are not using something up when you
use your telephone.  There is virtually no cost increase to the phone
company when you place a call, since the switching equipment remains
powered up and ready whether there are any calls or not.  Telephone
cables and other "outside plant" (by far the largest expense for any
phone company) do not wear out any faster because they are used more
often.

5) Even if you assume that the phone company had to add switching
capacity because of the number of simultaneous calls placed (and it is
really a stretch to assume that, except perhaps on some heavily-loaded
exchanges in financial districts and the like), measured local service
does not deal with the problem fairly because it charges on a PER-CALL
basis, not by time.  Thus, a modem user (whom you seem to see as the
evil force that necessitates measured service, even though most of us
do our modeming during off-peak periods) who ties up a phone circuit
for an hour at a time is not charged nearly as much as the guy who
makes several one-minute calls to see if a friend or relative has
arrvied safely after making a crosstown trip in icy weather.

The only reason the telcos want to charge on a per-call basis is
because it's now possible to do so economically, and they can convince
some gullible people that it's really fairer to do it that way.  Do I
think telcos are greedy?  Well, I have noticed that the small,
independent telcos who charge only fifty cents or a buck a month for
custom calling features and touch tone (or even offer touch tone free
even though NOT required by law to do so) almost NEVER ask for
mandatory measured service.  Only the big, fat, greedy companies who
try to get top dollar for every service offered do.

Honestly, Pat, this sounds like a case of "my mind is made up; please
don't confuse me with facts!"  You are certainly entitled to your
opinion, but I do rather wish you'd quit using your position as
Moderator to beat us over the head with it.  It's certainly not the
majority opinion; not here and not among the general public if the
votes in Maine and Oregon were at all representative.


Jack Decker --- 1:154/8.0 FidoNet, [e-mail]


[Moderator's Note: Your message is the last one in this series of
replies I started publishing a couple days agp. This time, instead of
me getting the last word, you get the last word, okay?    PAT]

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

Date: 19 Jan 1993 15:42:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Kimura <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Apartment Security Stupidity


> [Moderator's Note: I am rather surprised that this system actually
> dialed a seven-digit phone number. Most such arragements simply seize
> the pair at some point between the CO and the tenant [...]

I am not surprised since both the apartment I previously lived at and
my current condominium use a system that dials the telephone number.
In fact, at most of the security units I visit I can hear the system
dialing (sometimes even pulsing) the telephone number.

We used to have a private intercom system that opened the front gate.
It was inconvenient because the ringer was so quiet I couldn't hear it
from upstairs and you had to be downstairs where the unit was to talk
and open the gate.  When our condo board decided to upgrade to a
system using the telephone,  I extracted some articles from Telecom,
which our Moderator wrote, describing the "better" system.

However, next we received a request to provide our telephone number so
it could be programmed into both of our entry gates.  Instructions
indicated to push "9" to let someone in.  No mention was made as to
how to deny entrance nor was any mention made as to a "password" to
open the gate yourself.  Also, it was suggested that we purchase
Call-Waiting so people at the front gate won't get a busy signal.

Most recently the condominium board has been bemoaning the fact that
PacBell charges them for two (one at each gate) *BUSINESS* lines.  I
believe each call from the gate to a condo unit ends up being charged
at business rates.  Also, the phone lines to these entry gates
terminate in the parking garage with a regular phone jack.  I wonder
how long before someone taps in a phone there and makes calls charge
to the association?


Mike Kimura ([e-mail])


[Moderator's Note: Well again, the 'better' systems don't leave this
sort of thing to chance. They do not require call waiting; they do not
require that you provide your phone number for programming; they do
not even require that you have phone service from telco. With the
system from IBT, if by chance your phone service is terminated, let's
say due to a credit disconnect, the front door intercom still works.
Your phone may be sitting there dead 99 percent of the time, but if
someone comes to the door, presto, you get the door call. The better
systems do not care who plugs into whatever jack they please: all they
will get is a dialtone to a very limited in scope 'network'.
Incidentally, tell the condo association to get only one business line
if they insist on doing it the way they are. Have the phone at the
back gate be an extension to the one at the front gate. Given that the
door calls are only a few seconds in length ideally (in fact, IBT
times out the connection after 30 seconds, as does the customer
premises version), it would be rare that someone was trying to use the
phone at the front gate simultaneously with someone at the back gate.
By bringing the gate latch through a certain contact in the phone unit
itself, it is possible to fix things so only the gate where the phone
is off hook at that moment would get the unlatching pulse, and an
'in-use' light on the phone would be honored by most courteous people
who saw it illuminated for a few seconds when they arrived.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (ethan miller)
Subject: Re: Apartment Security Stupidity
Date: 19 Jan 93 17:45:43
Organization: Berkeley--Shaken, not Stirred
Reply-To: [e-mail]


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

> [Moderator's Note: To repeat, the better systems do NOT use dialtone
> from the CO. They generate their own dial tone and only get as far
> as the box by the basement demarc or wherever. The only calls they
> can make are to two, three or four digit door code numbers. Even the
> system from IBT which has equipment housed in the CO uses what would
> be better described as an 'intercom line' or maybe a special sort of
> centrex to operate. Those phones do not get near the network. ...]

The key word here is "better systems."

We have a lot of small (8-25 unit) buildings here in Berkeley.  Many
are protected by intercom security systems.  Some of the systems are
totally separate from the phone system (push buttons on a wall speaker
in the apartment, typically).  All of the rest (my sample size is
dozens) dial the full phone number.  I know; I can recognize the
tenant's phone number from the tones or pulses(!) that the system uses
to dial.

A separate phone line system is *much* cheaper to install for a
building without a preexisting security system.  You need to put in a
new phone line ($40 in Berkeley), a wire from the new line's demarc to
the security box, and the box itself.  Since the box is on an outside
wall, running the phone wire isn't terribly hard.  Monthly cost is
around $10.  My girlfriend's building got such a system about a year
ago.  It definitely dials her number (via pulse dialing) when I punch
up the appropriate code.  It even gets a busy signal occasionally.
The two digit code number from the keypad is translated to a seven
digit phone number.  I'll experiment to see if I can make other calls

using an external dialer.


ethan miller--cs grad student
[e-mail]   #include <std/disclaimer.h>


[Moderator's Note: All the landlord needs is a few long distance calls
made from that phone to demonstrate a 'regular phone line' is NOT a
cheaper way to go. Some landlords may even be too stupid to have those
phones blocked from 900/976/incoming calls, allowing someone to stand
at the front door and accept incoming collect calls from sex services,
etc.  The CPE version, from GTE in Canada only cost me about two grand
when I installed it for the apartment building I mentioned yesterday.
Of course, I did not charge myself for my own labor.  :)   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Ed Greenberg)
Subject: Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 22:20:18 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> Patrick Lee <patlee@Panix.
Com> writes:

> I guess Chicago's Citibank has older ATM machines than we have here in
> New York City.  I haven't seen any Citibank ATM machine which eats the
> card for the past few years.  Just dip the card in and take it out and
> proceed with answering which of the five languages to use.

I lived in New York when the CBCs (Citicard Banking Centers) first
came out.  They were unique in those days because (a) every branch had
them and (b) they were all behind locked doors with card readers,
instead of out in the street.  They were also unique because the card
was dipped and removed and HAD NO MAGNETIC STRIPE!

I was told that there were bits of metal in the cards that were
inserted between two plates of a capacitor.  Based on where the metal
was, some caps discharged and others did not.

Nowadays, I understand that Citibank cards have magstripes, so that
they can intenetwork, but remember that there was no plus, star or
cirrus system in those days and no reason for Citibank cards to work
anyplace but Citibank.

I banked at Citibank from January 1978 to October 1979, when I changed
jobs and was offered free checking at Marine Midland.  By that time,
ATMs were becoming more popular around the metro area and Citibank's
branch and ATM network was no longer as unique as it had once been.

Nonetheless, the CBCs, and available cash 24 hours a day, was quite an
oddity on Long Island in those days, and we were happy to have it.


Edward W. Greenberg  | Home: [phone] | [e-mail]
1600 Stokes St. #24  | Work: [phone] | DoD#: 0357
San Jose, CA  95126  | Fax:  [phone] | KM6CG (ex WB2GOH)


[Moderator's Note: I got my first ATM card from the Northern Trust
Company here in 1973 or 1974. There was no networking; the machine was
purely local to that bank and sat in the outer lobby. If it broke down
during off-hours (and believe me, it seemed to be down more than it
was up) then the lobby security guard had the home phone numbers of a
couple bank employees who were on standby duty. They'd come from home
at odd hours of the night and restart the machine.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (John Pettitt)
Subject: Re: Good Opportunity For Fraud
Organization: Starnet-Public Access UNIX--Los Altos, CA  415-949-3133
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 00:43:50 GMT


[e-mail] (Rod Gamble) writes:

[ story about PINs on UK ATM's being four letter works or phone
numbers ]

Sorry to shoot down your nice urban legend but ...

1) Most UK cards either come with a number or let you choose a number
at first use.  However the machines don't as I recall have alpha
keypads (British phones have not had letters on the dial/keypad for a
looooonnnnggg time).

2) There was a survey and the most common numbers started 19?? or
ended with two digits between 01 and 12.  This strongly implies that
dates are used by most people when asked for a pin.


John Pettitt, CEO, Dolmus Inc.            [e-mail]
Archer N81034                    apple!starnet!jpp
Me, say that, never: It's a forged posting!    Fax:   [phone]
                        Voice: [phone]

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #34
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