TELECOM Digest Tue, 5 Jan 93 03:20:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 9 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Cellular Modems (was Cellular RJ-11 Jacks) (Steve Pershing) Motorola Flip Fone Won't Reprogram (Jason Rogers) Part 68 - Just the FAQs (Rob Bailey) [TDR] DISA Yaks to FCC on PCS (Paul Robinson) Cellular One Off-Peak vs SWBMS Off Peak (Mark Earle) AC 215/610 Split (Bob Kupiec) Prepaid Card Phones vs. COCOTs (Peter Capek) Car (*not* Personal) Cell Phone Rcommendations? (Andrew Klossner) Prodigy <> Internet (jdelancy@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil) USA to UK Clear Calls (Richard Spence) Automated Sales Calls (Ray Normandeau) Alternate to AT&T Mail Delivery (Tom Lahey) Residential vs Business LD (was All Circuits Are Busy ...) (Peng Hwa) 1A ESS Master Scanner Correction (Alan L. Varney) Reference for "Tragedy of the Commons" Article (Jim Haynes) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cellular Modems (was Cellular RJ-11 Jacks) From: sp@questor.org (Steve Pershing) Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 23:17:40 PST Organization: Questor|Free Usenet News|Vancouver, BC: +1 604 681 0670 In article , dsjohns@uswnvg.com (Dwight Johns) writes: > Many of the newer cellular phones out there have (oh, what's a good > politicaly correct term) less than fully functioning RJ-11 jack on > Now my only complaint is that I can't go over 1200 baud on a > cellular connection and that I drop carrier whenever I handoff. ZyXEL's modems are capable of working on a cellular connexion. They have a proprietary "cellular mode" which handles cell hand-offs easily. If you are looking for data on these modems, we have most of their spec sheets scanned in as 300x300dpi TIFF images, which are ZOO-compressed. If you send a message to: mail-server@questor.org with the first lines in the body of text being: help dir files you should get enough info back to get you started. (We also have data sheets on Telebits, and a neat little PC-based EPROM programmer.) Best regards from snowy Vancouver, B.C. (yes! ...SNOWY!) Steve Pershing, SysAdmin The QUESTOR Project FREE access to Environ, Sci, Med, & AIDS news, and more. [also UUCP] on a ZyXEL-1496S v.42bis, v.32bis, v.33, up to 16,800bps. -=- -=- -=- -=- Fones: (+1 604) Data: 681-0670 Telefax: 682-6160 Voice: 682-6659 ------------------------------ Subject: Motorola Flip Fone Won't Reprogram From: jrogers@questor.org (Jason Rogers) Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 23:02:08 PST Organization: Questor|Free Usenet News|Vancouver, BC: +1 604 681 0670 Well, I bit the bullet and bought a nice little Beige Motorola flip-fone from a shady fellow at a low price. I wanted one just to be able to take it apart and see the works inside, and to be able to use it for 911 in case of emergencies. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out the lock code, and I was in luck as the factory six-digit security code was still the default. This particular phone seems to be the cheapest flip-fone of the Motorola line. It is gray in color, has a seven-digit green, seven-segment LED display, and has "In Use", "No Svc" and "Roam" indicators. The Touch pad is the usual 12 buttons, with two rows of four control buttons each, labelled: Rcl Sto Clr Snd Pwr Vol Lock End I have had it apart. Nice construction ... all surface mount components, lots of RF ground fingers, etc. I managed to re-program the unit a couple of times by entering the initial programming sequence (STO, #, Security Code entered 2x, RCL). Well, it seems to have stopped there, and won't reprogram any more. Manuals for such phones seem to indicate that there is a finite limit on the reprogramming, and after a number of tries it will have to be reset by a service person. Can anyone tell me how to re-enable reprogramming?? Many thanks in advance. (A tech manual would probably be an asset!) :-) Jason Rogers (jrogers@questor.org) | QUESTOR: Free Dial-in Public Access to Usenet Health, Medical News | | & AIDS forums, and Info on Global Environment at +1 604 681 0670. | [Moderator's Note: By setting a finite number of times the phone can be re-programmed, Motorola is trying to discourage people like yourself from buying phones from other shady characters (did I mean to insert the word 'other' back there?). When you run out of attempts, then you have to take the phone to a dealer, where it shows up on his hot list of stolen phones and he whispers to the guy at the counter to try and stall you while he calls the police from the back room. :) But, as they say, knowledge is power: you can be your own service technician and save yourself the potential for embarassment when the clerks at the cell phone dealership snicker as the police lead you away. If your Motorola phone has a 25 pin connector to the battery, then it is likely that pin 21 is what they call the 'manual test line'. By tying pin 21 low, the phone goes into 'local test mode' and some additional reprogramming can be done, including the resetting of that register which keeps track of how often you have hacked at or tried to phreak with the instrument. As luck would have it, pin 21's neighbor, pin 20 happens to be ground. *Carefully* solder a little wire with a micro-mini push off/on switch in the middle between pins 20-21 (be sure the pins are the same on your unit, of course). Install the battery and clicking the switch on or off should take you in and out of test mode. You'll get a screen display something like this: #??#. You fill in the ?? part. I think register 32 re-initializes the non-volatile memory (sets everything to zeros). DO NOT turn off the phone until the normal display returns. The phone may sit there and do nothing for upwards a minute ... just wait it out. You should be back in business for a few more hacking and phreaking attempts. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 05 Jan 93 01:38:59 EST From: Rob Bailey, WM8S <74007.303@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Part 68 - Just the FAQs This has got to be a FAQ, but I can't find it anywhere. I know I've seen it asked before, but I've never seen an authoritative reply: What certification is REQUIRED before a company can sell a device that is intended to be attached to the public switched service network? I.e., if I was going to build and sell a touch-tone interface or a modem of some sort, would I have to get Part 68 type acceptance certification? Could I just make the device according to part 68 requirements, of do I actually need to pay somebody to prove to the FCC that the device meets those specifications? Do I need to register the device with the FCC? Attach an REN to the device? Who performs such certification (if it's required)? How much is it? How long does it take? Ad nauseum ... isn't there a book somewhere called "How to get a device Part 68 approved" or something? Finally, another question I've seen asked thousands of times: it's completely unreasonable to expect me to pay the fortune the federal government wants for a printed copy of Part 68; is it on-line somewhere free? Has anyone gone through this process that can shed some light? Toby? Rob 74007.303@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM From: Paul Robinson Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1993 18:41:26 EST Subject: [TDR] DISA Yaks to FCC on PCS "DISA yaks to FCC on PCS" (Gee, I've always wanted to do a 'Variety' style headline. :) ) Article Summary Government Computer News, January 4, 1993, Page 38 This is a summary of an article about a technology you've probably never seen, complained about by an agency you've probably never heard of. In an article titled "Defense agency wants PCS voice services in public domain", author S. A. Marud tells how the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has jumped into the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) inquiry into the standards to be set on the operation of the startup Personal Communications Services (PCS) industry. PCS is a wireless digital technology which operates at 2 gigahertz. Cellular is analog. Also, one advantage of the service is that a number can be assigned to a person, not to a telephone. Two groups in DISA, the Federal Wireless Services User Forum (FWSUF) and the Interagency Cellular Radio Working Group (ICRWG) were the impetus for filing comments. They want to be certain that PCS supports at least Group 3 / Group 4 Fax, paging, images, and voice and data encrypted with an STU-III device. i.e. that a group 3 fax modem should work the same whether it's plugged into a wall jack or a PCS phone. PCS should also support dialing "0" for Operator and 911 for Emergency. ICRWG wants there to be two nationwide carriers for PCS, or in the alternative, at least one frequency block reserved nationally to one carrier and the rest awarded to local carriers. DISA's concerns on National Security and Emergency Preparedness makes it want certain basic services (Such as area code 710?) to be part of the new system, and that at least voice services to be available through the public switched (read local telco, AT&T, FTS-2000, MCI etc.) network. The systems should be made to be interoperable (meaning the phone you use in Dallas should also work in Kansas City, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles), either from the start or soon after some industry standards can be developed. DISA would also prefer that PCS licenses be issued for large areas if no nationwide carrier(s) are authorized. DISA is worried that PCS may be declared to be "private carriers" which means that the government cannot mandate that they be part of the Telecommunications Priority System (TSP) which allows the government to sieze telephone lines. TSP was invoked by the federal government for more than 4000 circuits and services during Hurricane Andrew. Certain industry groups are watching the rulemaking process on PCS, including the Wireless Information Network Forum (which represents computer and communications companies including Apple, AT&T & IBM), Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) (guess who they represent). CTIA is worried that the FCC might decide that PCS license won't be issued to a cellular operator in the same area. A decision on how the PCS industry is to be structured is expected from the FCC sometime in Fall 1993. Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM These opinions are mine alone. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 21:00:45 -0600 From: mearle@cgull.ccsu.edu (Mark Earle) Subject: Cellular One Off-Peak vs SWBMS Off Peak Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, the 'B' carrier for cellular phones in most of Texas, offeres a variety of monthly plans and costs. These seem to be market taylored. For instance, in DFW there isn't a readily accessable off peak plan with zero cents per air minute. In many smaller markets, including Corpus Christi, there is such a plan available. I pay $40/month (plus taxes, $5 for voicemail on 3rd ring/no ans). Cellular One announced via a full page ad, radio spots, and a TV spot, their version of off peak. $40/month 240 minutes "free" additional off peak minutes 9 cents includes 15 "free" peak minutes, additional peak minutes 15 cents. [SWBMS with the above is 40 cents / min peak, no "free" minutes]. Off peak is 8 p.m. local through 7 a.m., plus all day Saturday / Sunday, and four holidays (Easter, 4th July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and this year, they included New Year's Day.) In some ways the C1 plan looks better, as the peak minutes are cheaper, and really, 240 "free" off peak minutes is a lot of talking. I rarely run up more than 60 or so off peak minutes, and many of those are because at 0.00/min, who cares? I probably won't change carriers now (although I could next month) mainly because of the hassles of changing the number people use to get me. As yet, I'm unsure if the C1 plan includes "features". SWBMS includes CW, CF, 3W, and detailed billing in the above plan. * In DFW and other large market cities, SWBMS offers the zero - peak "Advantage" plan, but only to corporate or group buyers. Sometimes individuals can "push" and get this plan. In Corpus, we can get it simply by agreeing to a 1 year service commitment. mearle@cgull.ccsu.edu 73117.351@compuserve.com Mark Earle 1:160/50 ------------------------------ From: beyonet!olwejo!bob@cs.widener.edu (Bob Kupiec) Subject: AC 215/610 Split Reply-To: olwejo!bob@uunet.UU.NET Organization: Olwejo - Private UNIX System Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 04:35:13 GMT I just heard on the news today that Bell of Pennsylvania will announce an Area Code split in AC 215. Supposedly, in 1994 there will be a split to AC 610 that will separate Philadelphia with its suburbs. Most of Philadelphia will continue with 215 while the suburbs will pick up 610. I knew this would happen soon. Seems like it's here right now! Bob Kupiec, N3MML Internet: kupiec@hp800.lasalle.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 01:40:09 EST From: capek@watson.ibm.com Subject: Prepaid Card Phones vs. COCOTs Reading the discussion here recently about COCOTs and the cost to a premises owner of a LEC coin phone, I wonder if these economics will change when prepaid card access phones become common. I would guess that such phones (common in Europe for years, but only just starting to be available in New York, and nowhere else in the US that I know of) would make it possible for an LEC to provide a card phone which is less subject to vandalism (due to the lack of a coin box) and requires less service (again, no coin box to empty). Does anyone have any facts about this? Peter Capek ------------------------------ From: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com (Andrew Klossner) Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 13:39:40 PST Subject: Car (*not* Personal) Cell Phone Recommendations? Reply-To: andrew@frip.wv.tek.com Organization: Tektronix Color Printers, Wilsonville, Oregon There was a time when the only cell phones were hard-wired into a car. My wife wants one of these for the car she's buying: she never wants to take it away from the car, and she wants it to turn on whenever the car is started. She doesn't want to mount a hand-held or drop in a transportable bag phone. Any recommendations? Andrew Klossner (andrew@frip.wv.tek.com) (uunet!tektronix!frip.WV.TEK!andrew) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 15:48:56 EST From: jdelancy@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil Subject: Prodigy <> Internet About a month or so ago, someone posted that a gateway for Email from Internet to/from Prodigy would probably be in business by Christmas. Anyone have the latest status on that "activation"? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 19:34 GMT From: Richard Spence Subject: USA to UK Clear Calls Reply-To: rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk I know that it is possible to get a 'digital line' to the USA by using a different dialing code from the UK. This results in a full 64kbps line being made available for ISDN terminal to ISDN terminal calls. It must be possible to do the same operation from the USA, but I don't know the code. Does anybody out there know? Just for interest the code from the UK would be 0101 aaa nnnnnn for a 'normal' line and 01001 aaa nnnnnnn for an ISDN line. Thanks, Richard Spence rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk CompuServe: 100112,304 >>>MATRIX version 1.21e ------------------------------ Subject: Automated Sales Calls From: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Date: 3 Jan 93 14:18:00 GMT Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-8298v.32bis Reply-To: ray.normandeau@factory.com (Ray Normandeau) Contact Ray Normandeau 718 392-1267 Download this and other "off-beat" items by computer modem from Normandeau Newswire on Invention Factory BBS 212-274-8110 Updated January 3, 1993 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ===================== Computer Dialers Got You By The Calls? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Raymond B. Normandeau Normandeau Newswire- No matter where you are from the Nassau border to the Hudson River you may have gotten a computer dialed call telling you that you may be eligible for a fabulous prize. If you have not gotten such a call yet, cheer-up, you probably will. The recorded message is played to you extremely fast. You may have won a life-time supply of amphetatmines so that you too may start a similar business. Have you gotten computer dialed calls from "Hopping Harry". Maybe calls mentioning Reno Nevada? Have these calls told you to call a 540-nnnn number? Do you think that maybe the recorded messages failed to tell you the price of the call? Did the recording mention "Five-Four-Oh" several times? If the recording said "The call is billed at Five-Four-Oh" they meant that you are billed #5.40. You WERE paying attention weren't you? Those are the bargain calls, the sky is the limit. Was an address speed spoke so fast that "slow you" missed it? If you have multiple phone lines and have been lucky enough to be the recipient of multiple calls you may like to go pick up your multiple prizes in person. You may have been told to call 540-0100, 540-9900 or another 540-nnnn number. Now ... back to that address. Sneaky us, taped one of those calls and played back the address. Would you like to visit the office where the calls came from? Are you Hopping Mad? Here is the address: Eagleton Group Inc 717 East Jericho Turnpike #213 Huntington Station, NY 11746 If the recording tells you that you must call within "n" minutes and you want to get more information by phone without paying a hefty fee for the call, then dial 718-830-8781 which is a Forest Hills answering service for the Huntington Station address. You will only be charged for a regular local call. So now you have it. You can pay them a visit! You may have to speak to them real slowly like. They don't hear as fast as they talk. However, no matter how slowly you tell them that you want no more calls from them, they won't stop calling you - ever. We know, we tried! ------------------------------ From: toml@batfish.attmail.com Date: 3 Jan 93 21:46:32 GMT Subject: Alternate to AT&T Mail Delivery I've recently started getting telecom off the Internet via AT&T mail. (currently my only access to the Internet). I just did a quick calculation and each issue costs me in the range of $2.05!!! While I've found the content to be very educational and worth far in excess of the $2.05 per issue, I'm afraid that my e-mail budget is about to go bust! Does anyone know how I can get an Internet feed via dial-up? (with something less than a $0.95 for the first 3000 characters and .05 per 1000 after that?) I'll keep watching for a couple of more days! Thanks in advance, Tom Lahey - toml!batfish@attmail.com (for now!) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Jan 93 11:04:34 SST From: Ang Peng Hwa Subject: Residential vs Business LD (was All Circuits Are Busy...) Dave Ptasnik wrote: > With a higher percentage of business usage, most OCCs have very > litte traffic on their switches at nights, on weekends, and > holidays. The trunks that are busily full during the day sit idle. > We used periodically to get directives from our switch manager > to sell more residential accounts, and try to busy up the lines > at night a little more. I am trying to develop a theory around the facts provided above to argue that there are limits to competition in the long-distance market. (Ok, I know I'm treading on sacred grounds here.) One of my arguments is that for true long-distance competition -- along the line of the USA model -- vs phony LD competition as in UK, there must be a diversity of users: both residential and business. As Dave noted, the residential users typically call in the evenings, when trunks are idle. While Dave notes the difficulty of finding residential users with more than $50 in LD charges, I am finding difficulty obtaining the relevant data to prove the point. I'm still developing the idea so inputs sans flames are welcome. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 16:23:18 CST From: varney@ihlpl.att.com (Alan L Varney) Subject: 1A ESS Master Scanner Correction Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL In response to an article from bote@access.digex.com (John Boteler), I wrote: > If you are MOST curious (i.e., willing to spend money), you > should know that almost all the hardware (and some software, tools, > testing details, etc.) associated with 1/1A ESS(tm) switches is > described at a high level in two special issues of the Bell Labs > Technical Journal (BSTJ), one on the 1 ESS switch, and a later one that > describes the 1A Processor (used in both 1A ESS and 4ESS(tm) switches). > "No. 1 Electronic Switching System", BSTJ, Vol. 43 No. 5, > September 1964, Parts 1 & 2. > "The 1A Processor", BSTJ, Vol. 43 No. 5, February 1977. Terry Kennedy has (rightly) questioned the Volume numbers ... the second reference should be: "The 1A Processor", BSTJ, Vol. 56 No. 2, February 1977. Al Varney -- just MY mistake ------------------------------ From: haynes@cats.UCSC.EDU (Jim Haynes) Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 23:07:06 -0800 Subject: Reference for "Tragedy of the Commons" Article Several people have asked for the reference for the Garret Hardin "Tragedy of the Commons" article that I mentioned in connection with telemarketing. The reference is: {Science Magazine} (Amer Assn for the Advancement of Science) vol 162, p 1243, 13 December 1968 The axe Hardin was grinding in writing the article was population control; but the argument is widely applicable. It goes roughly like this. Suppose there is a meadow which produces enough grass to feed 1000 cows. Suppose it is used in common by 100 farmers, each with 10 cows. Now if a farmer acquires an extra cow he has increased his wealth by 10%, while each of the 1001 cows is affected by a food shortage of only 0.1%. Hence the temptation is overwhelming to stick in an extra cow or two. If only one farmer did this the effect would be practically insignificant; but when all the farmers give in to this temptation all the cows suffer from malnutrition as the meadow becomes seriously overgrazed. [Moderator's Note: This is the essence of what many people tried to explain years ago regards so-called 'victimless crimes'. In some situations the process of victimization is very slow -- so slow as to be almost indiscernable; in fact we see no immediate victim and claim therefore there must not be one. Instead of the personal discipline in our lives needed to make society as a whole function well, each of us says, 'well, this one little thing won't hurt, there are no victims.' After a few months, years or decades, these little (I like to call them termites in our conciousness) pecadillos each of us practice in our lives have eaten away enough of our society that there is a serious erosion we are unable to stop. Bit by bit, piece by piece until it all collapses like a rotting beach house on the ocean hit by the tides day after day. The USA in the 1990's is proof of this. The termites have been feasting for years, and the foundation is almost gone. Yes, I am guilty of this same sloth also. Old I grew too soon and wise too late. :( PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #9 ****************************