TELECOM Digest Sun, 21 Feb 93 00:11:30 CST Volume 13 : Issue 119 Index To This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson Judge Finds Nynex Guilty in Criminal Contempt Case (NYT via Eric De Mund) Wanna Call Ukraine? (Oklahoman & Times via mvm@cup.portal.com) AT&T Switch Bribe Now Up to $75 (W Schleck KD3FU National and Regional Telecom Newsgroups (Nigel Allen) U.C. Berkeley Short Course on High-Speed Communications (Harvey Stern) CPUC Predispositions (John Higdon) Let's Do a Figure-8 (Jim Gottlieb) Caller ID Display With RS-232 Interface Wanted (Paul Kubinski) Long Subscriber Loop Problems (John Braden) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 22:08:50 -0800 From: Eric De Mund Subject: Judge Finds Nynex Guilty in Criminal Contempt Case Reply-To: Eric De Mund Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services Here is an item of great interest from the {New York Times} this past week. [NYT Wednesday, February 17, 1993] Judge Finds Nynex Is Guilty In Criminal Contempt Case By EDMUND L. ANDREWS Special to The New York Times WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 -- A Federal judge convicted the Nynex Corporation of criminal contempt today and fined it $1 million for willfully selling an electronic information service in violation of the antitrust decree that broke up the Bell System in 1984. Nynex, the parent company of both New York Telephone and New England Telephone, said it had done nothing wrong and would appeal the verdict. Today's conviction, handed down by United States District Judge Harold H. Greene, is the first instance in which one of the"Baby Bell" telephone companies Nynex refused to admit any has been found guilty of criminal contempt. But the verdict is based on a prohibition on the Bell companies that was ended in late 1991 by a Federal appeals court in Washington, meaning it involves actions that would not be illegal today. And whether successfully appealed or not, the case will have little impact on Nynex's profits and virtually none on the rates that its telephone customers pay. The verdict does indicate, however, that Nynex aggressively pushed the boundaries of the law and had little patience for the central restrictions of the decree that broke up the old Bell System. Work for MCI at Issue In a strongly worded verdict, Judge Greene ruled that Nynex officials knew full well they were violating a provision of the decree that barred the regional Bell companies from owning electronic information services. As a result, he said, the company should be punished with a fine that would be taken as more than "mere license fees for illegal conduct." The charges stemmed from a small Tennessee computer company called Telco Research that Nynex bought in 1986 and later sold. The company had developed software that could help long-distance companies design private networks for big corporate customers. One of Telco Research's customers was the MCI Communications Corporation, which mailed data about telephone traffic to the company. Telco Research then processed the information on a computer and used telephone lines to send MCI a network design. The Justice Department, prompted by information brought by Scott J. Rafferty, a Telco Research vice president who had been dismissed, charged that Nynex knew these activities were illegal under the decree and went ahead anyway. Nynex refused to admit any wrongdoing, arguing that at worst it had run afoul of ambiguities in the decree. It adamantly refused to settle the charges out of court, much as another regional Bell company, U.S. West, had settled similar charges in 1991 by agreeing to pay the Government $10 million. Instead, Nynex spent millions of dollars in its defense. Nynex argued that its subbsidiary had essentially been leasing a computer and software, rather than providing an information service, and that its managers thought they were complying with the law. But Judge Greene said that the activities of Telco Research clearly violated the decree and that Nynex officials received clear indications of this from Justice Department attorneys as well as some of their own employees. "Nynex officials were aware that the MCI service bureau presented decree problems," wrote Judge Greene. "While Nynex employees continued to discuss the potential violations, this produced only delay, not a remedy." ------------------------------ From: MVM@cup.portal.com Subject: Wanna Call Ukraine? Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 13:17:55 PST From the _Saturday Oklahoman & Times_, 20 Feb 93, p. 25: Copyright (C) 1993 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Ukraine Gets AT&T Phone Switch By Bob Vandewater Staff Writer Telephone users in Ukraine are now placing calls through a digital telecommunications switch made at AT&T's Oklahoma City equipment manufacturing plant, officials said Friday. Plant manufacturing Vice President Pete Gannon said an AT&T switch, a highly-computerized electronic call routing system, was placed into service this week in Ukraine. "This is another example where a 5ESS exported from Oklahoma is providing state-of-the-art telecommunications services," Gannon said. "The digital switches made in Oklahoma City are now operating in 36 countries around the world." The Oklahoma City plant is the only domestic AT&T factory that makes and ships completed 5ESS switches. But AT&T has formed joint ventures in some other countries that allow for some 5ESS units that are partially built in Oklahoma City to be completed at plants in those nations, AT&T spokesman Ed Beltram said. AT&T Network Systems and Ukraine have formed such a telecommunications joint venture named UTEL to modernize the country's long-distance network. The first 5ESS unit installed in Ukraine was entirely built in Oklahoma City. UTEL recently signed a $35 million agreement to buy six additional 5ESS switching systems for Ukraine. Final assembly of those additional switches will take place at a joint venture plant in Chernigov in Ukraine. ------------------------------ Subject: AT&T Switch Bribe now up to $75 Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 13:00:38 CST From: Paul W Schleck KD3FU I live in Omaha, use US West, US Sprint, and have Caller-ID. I usually don't pick up the calls that say "Out of Area" too often, but figuring it might be someone important, I picked it up. "Hello, Mr. ?" "Uh Huh" "I'm so-and-so from AT&T, how are you this evening?" I'd usually hang up the phone at this point, but I was bored, and continued with the social pleasantries, and let him get on to the meat of the matter, which was a $75 bribe (not a coupon, a check) in exchange for switching to AT&T. That's right, SEVENTY-FIVE SEMOLIANS (the equivalent of at least several months of long-distance bills for me). I really shouldn't do deals over the phone, particularly telemarketing cold-calls, but as I said before, I was bored, and wanted to get more of the details. When he paused for Q&A, I asked the usual: Q: If I'm at a pay-phone, and your long-distance service is not the default, what is the access code? A: 1-0-ATT (10288, reality check to make sure I'm not talking to "ATNT" or "ATMT" or similar) Q: Do I have to pay the switching fee? A: No, a coupon to reimburse the fee will be sent to you (I had previously gotten a $35 bribe in the mail, but the switching fee was my responsibility). Q: If I agree to the service, how long do I have to stay? A: I can leave in 30 days, and keep the $75 check (forgot to ask if I have to pay to switch back) Q: How soon will the change take effect? A: 4-5 weeks And, in a moment of extreme weakness, I said "yes." I was then connected with a "neutral confirmation representative" (probably an AT&T employee to make sure that their telemarketing firm wasn't pulling an MCI slam-fest on them), who pronounced my name correctly. She confirmed that all the information was correct, and I wasn't some neighbor's kid, or cat-burglar who picked up the phone. What was amusing was that she asked for a "confirmation code," which could be several things, including mother's maiden name (probably have my credit-report on the screen right in front of them). I gave them an incorrect code, which was accepted (if they check them at all, they probably check them off-line). Will be interesting to see what they do with my order, either tear it up, call me back ("Mother's maiden name? Oh, I'm sorry, I though you said *Grandmother's* maiden name?" :-), or drop me a letter. So, am I missing something? Is this whole prospectus for real? I would assume that if the terms are very different in writing than over the phone, I can return the check uncashed and demand to be switched back. I'll take the heat for encouraging telemarketers, but I'd be interested in opinions of this latest AT&T sales pitch. Paul W. Schleck pschleck@unomaha.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 14:34:00 -0500 From: ndallen@r-node.pci.on.ca (Nigel Allen) Subject: National and Regional Telecom Newsgroups Organization: 52 Manchester Avenue, Toronto What national and regional telecom newsgroups exist? I know about uk.telecom from the United Kingdom? Are there any others, in English or other languages? Sites that don't receive the uk.* hierarchy may want to turn on uk.telecom anyway, so that users who are interested in telecommunications can read any uk.telecom articles that are cross-posted to internationally-distributed newsgroups. Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ndallen@r-node.pci.on.ca ------------------------------ From: southbay@garnet.berkeley.edu Subject: U.C. Berkeley Short Course on High-Speed Communications Date: 20 Feb 1993 01:49:50 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley U.C. Berkeley Continuing Education in Engineering Announces 2 Short Courses on Communications Technology SONET/ATM-Based Broadband Networks: Systems, Architectures and Designs (May 17-19, 1993) It is widely accepted that future broadband networks will be based on the SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) standards and the ATM (Asynchronous transfer Mode) technique. This course is an in-depth examination of the fundamental concepts and the implementation issues for development of future high-speed networks. Topics include: Broadband ISDN Transfer Protocol, high speed computer/network interface (HiPPI), ATM switch architectures, ATM network congestion/flow control, VLSI designs in SONET/ATM networks. Lecturer: H. Jonathan Chao, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Brooklyn Polytechnic University Gigabit/sec Data and Communications Networks (May 19-20, 1993) This short course provides a general understanding of the key protocols and networking elements needed to design and implement gigabit local area and wide area networks, including the protocols and implementations for HiPPI, SONET, ATM, and FCS. Lecturer: William E. Stephens, Ph.D., Director, High Speed Switching and Storage Technology Research, Bellcore Applied Research For more information (complete course descriptions, outlines, instructor bios, etc.) contact: Harvey Stern U.C. Berkeley Extension/Southbay 800 El Camino Real Ste. 150 Menlo Park, CA 94025 Tel: (415) 323-8141 Fax: (415) 323-1438 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 14:11 PST From: john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Subject: CPUC Predispositions In a recent article, references were made to the CPUC public hearings on Caller-ID. As an example of the pre-disposed bias contained in these proceedings, allow me to cite the tone at another hearing topic: IntraLATA competition. The method of completing calls within the LATA but with another carrier should intraLATA toll competition eventually be approved has long ago been decided by the CPUC, who caved in to Pac*Bell. There will be no presubscription as there now is with interLATA calling. For instance, after approval if I wish to call San Francisco (in my "service area") on any carrier other than Pac*Bell, I MUST dial the carrier code (10XXX) before the number. The only default carrier allowed is Pac*Bell. Someone at the hearing (was it I?) mentioned that having to dial a five-digit number before every call gave Pac*Bell a distinct competitive advantage for intraLATA traffic. None other than the Administrative Law Judge himself was quick to point out (even to the point of interrupting the current speaker) that inexpensive dialers were available and that it was "a simple matter" to use them to prepend the carrier codes. And this was the prevailing attitude: having to dial a five digit code was a trivial matter and not worth considering. Now let us enter our time and space machine and go to a Caller-ID hearing. Suddenly we find that having to dial *67 before the number of those from whom we wish to hide our phone number is an insurmountable task, capable of being performed by only the most brilliant and technically-minded individuals. The prevailing attitude: it is too hard to remember to dial a three-key code before making an anonymous call, therefore the default should be "private". It is amazing how the pre-disposed agenda changes at the CPUC hearings. And it is funny: the same tired old activists were at both meetings! John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 264 4115 | FAX: john@ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | +1 408 264 4407 ------------------------------ From: jimmy@tokyo07.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Subject: Let's Do a Figure-8 Reply-To: jimmy@denwa.info.com (Jim Gottlieb) Organization: Info Connections, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 09:14:55 GMT goudreau@dg-rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau) writes: > do I detect a little antipathy :-) toward interchangeable area > codes? Seriously, what other dialing plan would you propose instead? I, for one, would seriously suggest a change to eight-digit numbers. Think of it; a simple change where every existing number in the country has a certain digit added to the front of it, and it's done. No more area code splits, at least for the next 20 years. And no problem of dialing a number and finding it disconnected (or answered by an unknown party) because the prefix was changed to some unknown area code. Or worse, you assume the company went out of business. With an eighth digit added, you always know what to do, even five or ten years after the change. Here in Tokyo, where such a change occurred two years ago, there are plenty of signs that still show a seven-digit number. But it's no problem; everyone knows to add a '3' to the front. Contrast that to the situation in Los Angeles, where one now never knows what area code one is in while out of familiar territory (and it matters because 1 + NPA + NXX-XXXX to your own area code is denied). Directory Assistance, as already mentioned in these screens, is another problem. You know that someone lives somewhere in Los Angeles. But if you don't know where in Los Angeles, you'll have to make three directory assistance calls. I would even be so bold to suggest that after the conversion to eight-digit telephone numbers, L.A. go back to a single area code. I often try to feel for those poor souls who don't read Telecom Digest. I look on a piece of equipment here in Japan and call the number printed to ask a question. It's a +1 312 number. When I reach a telco recording, I know to try +1 708 instead. But how many people in Japan know to do that? Eight-digit numbers are the answer. Jim Gottlieb Info Connections, Tokyo, Japan In Japan: Fax: +81 3 3865 9424 Voice Mail: +81 3 3865 3548 ------------------------------ From: syspak@charlatan.Central.Sun.COM (Paul Kubinski) Subject: Caller ID Display With RS-232 Interface Wanted Date: 20 Feb 1993 15:52:28 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Reply-To: syspak@charlatan.Central.Sun.COM Hello to all, From the responses I've received I'm not sure I framed my question correctly. Here it is once again (with a diagram and brief explanation of the desired integration with the customer application). Backround: Small manufacturing company wants to make their customer service application more "responsive". They would like to pull the Caller-ID of the incoming call and use it to key a database retrieval. They want to do this today, under SunOS, and not use native ISDN connections to their Sun server. The number of incoming customer service lines will be small, probably two or three. Idea: For the most part, Caller-ID is available in the metro area. One can purchase a Caller-ID display unit for $50 or so from several sources (ie. AT&T phone centers, Radio Shack). I've heard that some of the newer caller id display units have RS-232 connections which may be used to capture the calling phone number's digits (in ASCII?) and send this info to a computer or a serial printer. Does anyone know if these devices w/RS-232 output exist? If so, can you point me towards the vendor of this item? Big picture diagram: RS-232 Sun Server--------------caller-id..........incoming phone line | box : | : | telephone | local Ethernet |-------------------------------------| | | | | Sun Client Sun Client Any alternate ideas are welcome. Cheers! PAK ------------------------------ From: braden@lincoln.diag.stratus.com (John Braden) Subject: Long Subscriber Loop Problems Date: 20 Feb 1993 19:16:38 GMT Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc. I've got a problem with high-speed modem communication and I hope somebody can help. My home phones are located at the end of a 56,000 foot. local loop (copper wire) from the central office (as measured by the lineman at the network interface). The signal level I read (using an at%l) from my modem connection is -33 to -34dB down from the 0dBm switch reference level. The lineman's box said 35dB. It also said this is acceptable for a voice-grade line. I checked with the Telecommunications Division of the Massachusetts Public Utilities Department, and was told that there is nothing in the tariff which defines an acceptable signal level for a telphone connection. I've been told by others that typical losses should be about 5dB through the central office and 8db on the local loop. After their visit, the phone company agreed to put a "bridge lifter" (which someone else called bridge clips) in to help the signal level, but I noticed no improvement. As a result of the attenuation distortion present on my lines, I cannot establish a V.32bis LAP-M connection and have some problems with a plain V.32 LAP-M connection. I'm using Zoom V.32bis modems with rev. 2.0 PROMs (Rockwell chip set) on both ends. I need some information and advice on my alternatives: 1. What is a "bridge lifter" (or bridge clips)? 2. Are there ANY modems which do well with -35dBm signal levels? 3. Is there a way I could improve the signal on my side of the network interface? 4. Is there anything I can do to get acceptable signal levels included in the published tariff for Massachusetts? 5. I investigated the cost of a foreign exchange with a closer central office and an analog FDDA circuit from my central office, but these are just too expensive. Is there an alternative I missed? 6. Should I just give up & be glad I can sometimes connect at V.32 speeds? Thanks for your help! John Braden braden@lincoln.diag.stratus.com ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #119 ******************************