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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!yama.mcc.ac.uk!warwick!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!blodwen.demon.co.uk!blodwen.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: jrg@blodwen.demon.co.uk (James R Grinter) Newsgroups: uk.telecom,news.answers Subject: uk.telecom FAQ, Part 2/3 - Telephone services Supersedes: <uk-telecom-2_831940497@blodwen.demon.co.uk> Followup-To: uk.telecom Date: 16 Jun 1996 23:47:51 +0100 Organization: The Circus Lines: 1995 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 1 Jul 1996 22:47:44 GMT Message-ID: <uk-telecom-2_834965264@blodwen.demon.co.uk> References: <uk-telecom-1_834965264@blodwen.demon.co.uk> Reply-To: uktel-faq@blodwen.demon.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Host: blodwen.demon.co.uk Summary: uk.telecom Frequently Asked Questions + Answers This is the list of answers to frequently asked questions for the newsgroup uk.telecom, including both UK Contact & resource information, UK Telephone service information (part 2) and technical information (part 3). Keywords: FAQ, uk.telecom X-NNTP-Posting-Host: blodwen.demon.co.uk Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu uk.telecom:63632 news.answers:74498 Archive-name: uk-telecom/part2 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: Time-stamp: <96/06/16 14:53:09 jrg> Version: 2.11 Frequently Asked Questions for uk.telecom Part 2 - Telephone Services Compiled/ Posted by James Grinter <jrg@blodwen.demon.co.uk> ~See <uk-telecom-1_834965264@blodwen.demon.co.uk> for the question index, and further information about this FAQ.~ These articles attempt to summarise answers to some of the more often asked questions in the newsgroup uk.telecom. This second part of the FAQ is about Telephone services, companies, and products in the UK, and what is available. ---- Subject: What is uk.telecom ? It's the uk's own little newsgroup to discuss all sorts of topics related to telecommunications in Britain, including (but not limited to) technical matters, pricing, STD codes, equipment, BT vs Mercury, Select Services (were Network Services, nee Star Services), ISDN services, modems, etc. You get the idea.. It was born in August 1991 to cater for the large amount of telecoms related traffic in uk.misc, as UK specific enquiries in the UseNet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom tended to be swamped by the vast number of other articles. ---- Subject: Phone numbers Q: Why do we need another digit in the phone numbers ? [left in for historical interest and 'told you so's ;-)] The existing numbering scheme is mixed 8, 9, and 10 digits (in all cases including the initial "0" - which isn't really part of the number. Theoretically, the maximum number of numbers is 900 million, excluding 00XX codes because by CCITT [now ITU] convention you can't have the same digit as the first digit of the NDC (National Destination Code, that's the STD code without the "0") as you have as national trunk prefix. 01XX has been cleared (solely to make the code change possible) and this reduces the total number of possible numbers to 800 million. Where the numbers are used for geographic areas, and users are offered the option to dial those numbers without a trunk code, then 201,000 numbers in each group of 1,000,000 become unusable. But other number ranges, such as cellnet, freefone, paging services and premium rate numbers are not limited in this way. So the real "supply" of numbers in the UK is about 650 million. Experience shows that allowing for the continuing process of number changing, and the fact that there will always be some numbers that cannot be allocated, about 60% of the supply can be utilised at any one time. This means that the present scheme restricts us to using no more than 400 million numbers at any one time. In fact the UK (plus the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) is currently using less than 30 million numbers, which should allow plenty of room for growth. So why is there a problem? Because the numbering ranges are tied to fixed locations by a formula that has no place in modern telecommunications, and which was originally introduced solely to enable fairly primitive mechanical equipment to route and charge calls correctly. As a result there is a serious imbalance in the distribution of numbers: one code, such as 0393, has only 25 numbers in use - while another, such as 0532, has over 300,000. The proposed extra digit will NOT solve the problem. Agreed it will create a lot more codes: but even now there are 56 codes that have no numbers on them, and that figure (surprisingly enough) is increasing, not decreasing ! But the extra digit won't provide any more numbers within each of those geographic areas served by individual codes, and that is where the brunt of the demand will be. Currently, growth is caused both by the need for more lines (particularly for fax) and by new operators taking blocks of numbers **within** the individual areas. Future demand will be driven by existing services such as DDI (Direct Dialling In to PABXs) which is a heavy consumer of numbers, and by new services such as Teenline, and Distinctive Ringing. The latent demand for DDI has been suppressed in the UK by both the lack of availability of connections, and by high tariffs imposed by BT. The arrival of DASS2 (the ISDN signalling system for digital PABXs) makes availability considerably easier, and Mercury and BT are now offering DDI at a much lower tariff. As demand grows, the larger cities will overflow their allocations of numbers and further complete changes will become necessary. It has recently been announced that five of those cities (Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Leicester and Bristol) are to change to seven digit schemes in 1995: and looking at the list of codes vs numbering density in each (now, I believe, in the uk.telecom archives) it is clear that further places, including Brighton, Belfast and Bournemouth, are also likely to run out of numbers in the next few years. London's 071 was not expected to last beyond 2005 at the previous growth rates; however allowing for the greater demand caused by DDI and new services, the 071 number range is likely to be exhausted by the end of this decade. At that stage the two options will be either to split the 071 area into two codes, or to convert all of London to an eight digit scheme. This is not a new phenomenon ... even before London split into 071 and 081, two other capital cities (Paris and Copenhagen) had each tried an identical scheme. Those schemes failed, mainly because of confusion between "inner" and "outer" zone numbers, and each was superceded by an eight digit scheme which is reported to have been very successful. So we don't need an extra digit. And the extra digit (if we get it) won't solve any problems. We do need a complete overhaul of the numbering system, whether we have the extra digit or not. As that overhaul will have to come, it would be far better if we waited - and planned a single change that would solve all the problems, rather than have a hotchpotch of further changes. But - while the extra digit won't achieve anything for the customers, it will have an interesting effect on BT's sales figures. As soon as the extra digit is imposed, all Mercury Smart Boxes, SmartSockets, and compatible PABX and key systems will stop working unless they have been modified (at the user's expense) because they will be unable to recognise the longer codes. With the reduced differentials between Mercury's tariffs and BT's "options", some users may find it uneconomical to pay the charge for the modifications. Similarly, payphones supplied before 1992 by BT's competitors will be unable to charge correctly for calls. Some will have to be modified, at a cost, while others, that cannot be modified, will have to be scrapped. Some of those payphones are still on sale to unsuspecting members of the public without any warnings being given as to what is in store. Q: So who decided, and what were the choices? Ovum Ltd, 1 Mortimer St, London W1., a respected and independent telecommunications/management consultancy, carried out the investigation for OFTEL. They were asked to study the first five options below. 'Numbering for Telephony Services into the 21st Century - A Consultative Document' July 1989 Oftel. Sample quotes: There are **many** possible options for a future scheme.. This document identifies 5 practicable options which span the range of possibilities. The starting point for any new plan is the current scheme. This is essentially a nine digit plan. (The leading zero dialled for trunk calls is a prefix which is not strictly part of the full telephone number.) [<== here comes the selective blindness] - a) Add a leading digit to all numbers which indicates the service being used. [Final choice; '1' indicates old numbers] - b) As a) but numbers are fully portable. [The number does not geography or carrier]. - c) Compromise between a) and b). Add a leading digit.. numbers portable.. but geographic portability is restricted to individual NNG areas [eg within Birmingham]. - d) Add an extra digit to the front of all local DNs.. local PSTN DNs increase in length from 6 or 7 digits to 7 or 8. - e) The only nine digit plan of the five, allows full portability of DNs. Users dial the full national number at all times omitting the trunk prefix '0' which is redundant. - f) [Not actually proposed] As for a). Drop trunk prefix '0'. Add leading '0' for old numbers, so they look the same. Q: Who owns this numbering space ? The numbering space is owned by the nation, and (technically) Oftel is its custodian. But in practise Oftel delegates the majority of decisions to BT, and takes advice from BT (and sometimes other operators) on major issues. If Oftel owned the numbering space and managed it effectively, Mercury would have been allocated 0800 and 0345 numbers to issue to their customers, rather than having to use new codes (0500 and 0645) which are still not recognised by some BT (and private) payphones. Q: I've heard someone mention about Mercury's 0500 service, what is it ? This is Mercury's 'freecall' service introduced at the end of 1992 and is their equivalent of BT's 0800 service. Similarly Mercury 0645 service, called 'localcall' is the equivalent of BT's 0345 (now tackily 'Lo-call') service. 0800 89 prefixes normally indicate that the number is connected to a location outside the UK: overseas telephone companies 'country direct' services. Some 0500 89 prefixes are also like this, but mostly those mirroring 0800 numbers. Q: How can I phone American 1-800 (toll free) numbers from the UK ? Latest information is that now you can ring a 1-800 number from any BT line, albeit with the normal international charge being levied. American 1-888 codes do not yet appear to be covered by this. [I forget where this information came from, but someone has tried it recently, and not had any luck.] For a list of U.S. companies with U.K. 0800 numbers, call AT&T Direct (see another answer) and ask for 816-654-6688 collect. Then ask the person who answers for extension 7642 (if you're US military, then apparently you should ask for extension 9661 instead). You should call during US business hours. Q: How do I dial a number with a mnemonic in it ? Here's a letter to number mapping; this is potentially useful because many 1-800 numbers have mnemonics in them. Num UK USA 1 2 3 1 ABC --- --- 2 ABC ABC DEF ABC ABC 3 DEF DEF GHI DEF DEF 4 GHI GHI JKL GHI GHI 5 JKL JKL MNO JKL JKL 6 MN MNO PQR MNO MN 7 PRS PRS STU PQRS PRS 8 TUV TUV VWX TUV TUV 9 WXY WXY YZ WXYZ WXY 0 OQ Operator Oper/+ + OQZ There is no 'Z' in either system, and there's no 'Q' in the States. The other three columns are 1. Mitsubishi MT-9, Motorola MR1 2. Motorola 7500, Roamer 300, 500 3. Nokia GSM2010, Orange. Q: What are BT Phonebase/ Electronic Yellow Pages/ TeleDirectory and how do you get access to them? BT Phonebase allows you to use your modem for directory enquiries. You get access to the whole country by name, street, town, even by phonetic partial match. You get access to up-to-date information, not a phone book that's maybe a year old. It gives you name, full address including postcode, and phone number. Phonebase is a seperate system, though it is supposed to be regularly updated from NIS - the DQ (Directory Enquiries) system. It costs nothing to join (phone 0800 919 199 or fax (0114) 244 0157 and they send out the form). The modem call is charged at long distance rates [ BTs 'n' rate is about 15 p/minute but Mercury (business tariff at least) charge about 9 p/minute], and is only 2400 baud. But even so, you can look up numbers for a fraction the cost of Directory Enquiry calls (37.8p +VAT). As for the retrieval system, well, it was written by a bunch of Americans and BT thought it was perfectly adequate. There was a front-end access program available, written by BT, though they have now discontinued support and are planning to change the interface. The program is available from <URL:ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/ibmpc/baseline/baseline.exe>, and someone is trying to obtain the source and details of the proposed new interface definition. BT also recently launched an online directory enquiry system for personal computer users. Called TeleDirectory, the system is 'aimed at customers who require five or more telephone numbers a day' and costs 12p per enquiry. It's based upon an MS Windows front end, and comes with a software at a cost of UKP300 per annum, with discounts on 5 licenses or more. Ring 0800 200 700 for further information. Electronic Yellow Pages is quite obviously named. It offers access from (01734) 505533 (vt100) or 505522 (Videotex). Helpline on (01734) 506506, for more info. Access via a Reverse Charge X25 call is no longer available. You can now access EYP via a web interface at <URL:http://gatekeeper.yellowpages.co.uk/yell/eyp.html>. Q: How can I get UK phone directories on CDROM? BT offer 'Phone Disc', basically BT's Phone books on CDROM. There are three options available - The annual Phone Disc, updated annually, is available at 199 UKP, Phone Disc updated quarterly costs 1,600 UKP and the Network Phone Disc, for very high volume users with multi-server applications, costs 3,000 UKP per annum. Contact 0800 526 281 free for further information. There is currently no other offering that has residential numbers included, though there has been mention of a disc including business numbers. Hurdles to a CDROM including the UK phone directories include BT's assertion of copyright over the collection (see also regular discussions in uk.telecom). Q: What defines a local call area? The boundaries are all quite complex. The only reference seems to be your local phone book, which will tell you where you can call for local costs. The complete list is available from BT on floppy, but costs a fortune! From BT's 1994 price update (Item Code 964780 (2/94)), it says >> "Telephone exchanges are grouped together into charge groups to determine >> call charges for local and national calls. Each charge group has a "charge >> point". A call made within a charge group is usually a local call. Charges >> for other calls are generally based on the distance (up to or over 35 >> miles) between the charge points in the originating and called charge >> groups." Q: When did the National Code Change take place? The National Code Change took place at 1am on 'Phoneday' (16 April 1995). The new codes and numbers were available for use since 1 August 1994. Phoneday is when the old codes and numbers were withdrawn. Call 0800 010101 (BT) or 0500 04 1995 (Mercury) for more information. See other regular posts, and information supplied by your telephone provider for details of number changes. Q: When did the International access code change happen? At the same time as Phoneday, the dialling code for making an international call changed from 010 to 00. Q: I want a new line with a particular number, or want to renumber an existing line to a particular number. You can (generally) do this as long as the number is not allocated or reserved for somebody else. You will be told that the number you want is not on their list, but ask them to call the number allocation people for your area and get it for you. It CAN be done. NOTE: If you are requesting a new line tell them before they start tapping your details that you want to choose a number. Q: What sort of dialling code is <x>? (0990 was used for Ascot, Chobham, and Wentworth, until a few years ago. Ascot moved to 0344 (2, 87) Wentworth to 0344 (84) and Chobham to 0276 (85)) [note: not all of these are in even BT's phone book] 01399 VodaPage Network local 014260 ? Free 014261 Free 014262 local 014263 ff1 014264 regional 014265 regional 014266 ff1 014267 Free 014268 local 014269 regional 014591 ? regional 014592 regional 014593 Free 014594 regional 014595 regional 014596 Free 014598 regional 014599 Free 0331 Vodata premium rate p1 0336 Vodata premium rate p1 0338 Mercury premium rate p1 0345 BT LoCall local 0374 VodaFone M 03745 b 0378 VodaFone M 0385 VodaFone (GSM) M 03856 Vodata services b 0402 Cellnet Mobile M 0408 BT Mobile e (Personal Assistant) 0421 VodaFone M 04211 b 04560 Orange m 04561 Orange m 0468 Vodafone (GSM) M 0500 Mercury Free 05415 ? b 0585 Cellnet M 0589 VodaFone M 0640 MCL p0 UKP1.50/minute 0645 Mercury L 0660 Mercury premium rate p1 06966 ? p1 07010 Flextel Personal Numbers d 07017 Flextel Personal Numbers d 0800 BT FreeCall Free 0802 Cellnet GSM M 0831 VodaFone M 0836 VodaFone M 08360 VodaFone services b 08361 VodaFone services b 08364 VodaFone premium p1 08368 VodaFone Services (vmail) b 08369 VodaFone Services (pabx) b 0839 Mercury premium p1 0850 Cellnet M 0860 Cellnet M 0881 Mercury premium M [or should that be p1?] 0891 BT p1 0894 BT s0 35p flat rate 0897 BT p0 UKP1.50/minute 0898 BT Premium Rate p1 0910 BT services 091021 ? n 09411 Hutchison Paging regional 0956 Mercury One2One d 09567 Flextel classic d 0958 Mercury One2One d 09580 Mercury One2One Freecall Free 09581 Mercury One2One Localcall local 0973 Orange PCS d 0976 Orange PCS d 09797 Jersey Telecom GMS h 0990 BT b derived services 09911 MCL p0 09919 MCL p0 ff1 - fixed fee, regardless of duration h - calls to 'new services' m, d - mobile phones. n - information services p0, p1, s0 - premium rate services [watch out for p0!] Q: What codes are free to the caller? 1471 is currently free of charge. 141, 1474 and 1470 are chargeable at the same rate as the call being made - there is no charge for using the 1xx(x) code. The following codes are also free to the caller, (except see note below): 112 = European standard Emergency number 131 = Mercury PIN access 132 = Mercury CLI access 133 = Mercury calling card (0500 800800) 139 = Mercury Extended Ingress, currently on test 144 = BT Chargecard 145 = BT "Fixed Mobile Convergence" 150 = BT Residential Customer Services 151 = BT Residential fault reports 152 = BT Business Customer Services 154 = BT Business fault reports 1571 = Message Retrieval 1601 = ACC Indirect Access 1602 = ACC Indirect Access 1611 = Energis Indirect Access 1616 = Energis Indirect Access (actually their contact line) 1620 = Energis direct (CLI) access - includes the initial "0" 1621 = Energis direct (CLI) access - includes the initial "1" 1660 = Worldcom Access 17070 = (replacement for 174/175) 17094 = Network Based Call Answering Service - Diversion on busy 17095 = NBCAS - Ring Tone no reply 17099 = Alternative emergency code 174 = Faultsman's ring back 175 = SALT test 176 = Customer Pair Localisation Equipment 177 = Customer Pair Identification (reads back number) 195 = Blind customer DQ 153 = International DQ (**see note**) 155 = International Operator 190 = Telemessage 192 = UK DQ (**see note**) 198 = Operator (used for revertive calls) Remembering that these are the codes that BT systems recognise, beacuse that related to the original question. Other networks will recognise other codes, and may not recognise all of these. Oftel are working on a list of standard codes, and may require some of these to be withdrawn when they do not conform to the standard. This is especially likely to apply to 3-digit codes, as the standard will become 4-digit 1XXX codes, with exceptions such as 100, 112 etc. 123 is a local call from anywhere (the old numbers for Timeline, ending in 8081, were usually but NOT ALWAYS a local call!) 153 and 192 are chargeable at the rate for a call to Directory Enquiries. 100, 155, 190 and 198 route to a BT operator: the call to the operator is free, but any call connected by the operator will usually be chargeable. Q: How should I correctly write my telephone number? [quote: "The following is information sent by OFTEL, originally written by BT. I have tried to reproduce it letter for letter, but the BT text was right justified and mine isn't! E&OE. Adrian Kennard. Jan95"] NUMBER PRESENTATION - BT ADVICE The recommended style of presentation of new telephone numbers is based on customer reseach. Brackets are used to identify the national code - which is omitted when dialling within the same area. The use of hyphens is no longer recommended. Metropolitan Areas (ie those with 7 digit local numbers): These should be in the "All Figure Format" with the local number shown as 3+4 digits eg: Tel: (0171) 239 1482 (0117) 927 2272 Non-Metropolitan Areas: The Local number is shown without any space; Tel: (01273) 568010 (0781 39) 9587 If customers wish to include the Exchange name it should be shown before the National Dialling Code eg: Tel: Brighton (01273) 568010 Tel: Barlaston (0781 39) 9587 Tel: Bristol (0117) 927 2272 NON GEOGRAPHIC CODES (Mobiles, Paging, Linkline etc) In all cases it is necessary to dial the full national number. In these cases brackets are not used. eg 0800 526174, 0891 234876 PRESENTATION OF NUMERS FOR CALLS FROM OVERSEAS The international convention is to show the country code (for the UK = 44) and number prefixed by "+". The "+" indicates that callers should dial the appropriate International access code according the country from which they are calling. International calls omit the inland prefix "0" thus the Brighton example would be shown as International +44 1273 586010 Together these would be shown as: Telephone:Brighton (01273) 586010 International: +44 1273 586010 NB For Fax lines the same conventions apply but using "fax" in place of "Tel". Q: What is a "DE block"? The digits of a national code or phone number are referred to by letters according to where they are in the number. After the initial zero (which of course is NOT part of the nationally significant number) the digits are given successive letters in sequence - but excluding the initial "1" if it is present. For example, in 0171 634 8961, letters are allocated as follows: AB CDE FGH In the case of the Reading numbers such as 0734 413131, the letters are allocated in the same way: ABC DEFGH so that (in that case) the DE digits are the first two after either the 0734 or 01734, as appropriate. In the days before digital switches, this was the point at which BT (in nearly all cases) did its final route selection to the exchange or UAX serving the required number range. The significance today is that the Oftel numbering unit only allocates numbers to licensed operators in blocks of 10,000: i.e. all the numbers with the same DE digits are allocated to the same licensed operator. When you run out of DE digits for a particular area (i.e. national destination code), you have de facto run out of numbers! It was originally suggested to Oftel that numbers should instead be allocated in multiple blocks of 1000, as this would provide greater flexibility. Sadly they did not adopt this suggestion: if they had done so, Reading might not be in the predicament it is in today. ---- Subject: Oftel Q: Who or what are OFTEL? How do I contact them? OFTEL is the Office of Telecommunications, created by the act that set the way for British Telecommunications to be privatised. Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) 50 Ludgate Hill LONDON EC4M 7JJ Tel: (0171) 634 8700 (Switchboard) (0171) 634 8888 (Advice unit) Fax: (0171) 634 8943 (0171) 634 8754 (Publications) Oftel's library may be contacted on (0171) 634 8764/5 during office hours (9am-5pm). If you quote them the BABT approvals number from any piece of equipment, they can look up the relevant approval document and give you details of the company that applied for the license, and companies that can service the equipment without invalidating the approval. Q: Do OFTEL set any of BT's charges? No charges are set by Oftel. BT sets ALL its charges, and publishes them in their "Price List" (of which Oftel get a file copy). If Oftel believe any of BT's charging policies are in breach of the license conditions (or any other regulatory requirement) they will of course point this out. Oftel do put a price cap of RPI - 7.5% on a 'basket' of services and limits on some individual services. Q: How do I get a copy of 'Oftel News'? Just ring Oftel and ask. (0171) 634 8700 ---- Subject: ICSTIS Q: Who or what are ICSTIS? How do I contact them? The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services. [Note address change {*}] ICSTIS, 177, High Holborn, London Telephone (0171) 240 5511 Fax (0171) 379 4611 Complaint line is 0800 500 212. Their leaflet describes them as "an independent watchdog which supervises premium rate telephone information and entertainment services". ---- Subject: Mercury Communications Ltd Q: Can you use a Mercury 131 account from any phone? {*} The Mercury 2300 residential service is intended for use from a single phone number, and it may be against their terms of business to break this guideline. However, in practice you will find that a 131 PIN will work from any phone on the same exchange. So if you happen to have a separate fax line, or you want to use your account on a neighbour's phone, it will probably work. Look upon the inability to use it outside your local exchange as a security feature. And look after your "blue button" phone - if nicked or "borrowed" it can be used to run up large bills on your account! If you want to make calls from further afield, consider a Mercury Calling Card instead. Q: What is the Mercury beep, and can I get rid of it ? The answer beep can annoy customers if it occurs once the person has started speaking. In some areas, it is immediate on answer and therefore no problem. It **can** be removed for specific accounts on request: just ring up Mercury customer services and ask. The beep triggers call logging/charging equipment, such as hotel switchboards and payphones, and although it is currently applied to all indirect calls via Mercury (except where the customer has requested its removal), Mercury are planning to withdraw it from all those customers that do not specifically require it. Q: What do I get on Mercury's itemised bill using cost centres? - A statement giving total bill, together with giro credit slip, - A sheet listing all cost centres used, together with time and money totals, - A sheet for **each** cost centre used detailing **each** call made, listing exchange name (not code) and number dialed, time+duration, and cost. Q: Is it possible to access Mercury 131 from a BT Payphone? If the phone is rented by a customer from BT, the answer is yes, **provided** that (a) it is in a Mercury Access Area, and (b) the customer has not asked BT to bar access to Mercury from that phone. If however the phone has been provided by BT for "public" use (i.e. nobody is paying rental on the phone, and all the takings go to BT) then, in nearly all cases BT will have barred Mercury access. If there are any cases where Mercury access has not been barred, it will be simply because someone has forgotten to do it! Q: How can I dial 9 digit numbers quickly- the system waits a while for the 10th digit? For Mercury 131, try using a #. This apparently doesn't work for 132, because for that service the BT exchange stores all the digits and dispatches them to Mercury in one go. Q: What is the Mercury 132 service? {*} Instead of having a PIN (as with the 131 service), Mercury uses your Calling Line Identity (CLI) to identify you. The dialling code to access the service is 132. The differences from 131 are - You don't need a special "blue button" phone - any tone-dialling phone will do - Calls are set up faster, as there is no PIN dialogue - It is not available from all exchanges - It is not possible to use it from just any exchange line You still have the cost centre facility at no extra charge, as per Mercury 131. Q: Can I tell if Mercury 131/132 service is available in my area? {*} Ring Mercury Customer Services on 0500 500 194, and ask them. Or, if you would rather play with Mercury's computers, dial 0500 132 131 and follow the automated prompts. Q: Can I use 132 service from multiple exchange lines? {*} For a domestic subscriber, it is possible to register a two exchange lines (ie two phone numbers) to a single 132 account, but only if you subscribe to the Smartcall tariff scheme. Mercury's rule-of-thumb says that Smartcall will save you money if your bill is typically over 30 pounds per month (but check it yourself - we make no guarantees here!). If you have more than two domestic phone lines, you need more than one account. The situation is different for business subscribers - contact Mercury Business Customer Enquiries on 0500 700 101. Q: How do I get Mercury's price list? The Mercury Communications Ltd. Price List (or Tariff Schedule as they call it) comes from: Marketing Publications Manager Mercury Communications Ltd New Mercury House 26 Red Lion Square LONDON WC1R 4HQ Voice: (0171) 528 2000 (main switchboard) Fax: (0171) 528 2377 (direct to Marketing Pubs dept I think) In case anyone wants to know what it looks like (so they can check they're being sent the real thing) it's an A4 ring binder about an inch thick, there are several sections inside each separated by a snazzy plastic divider with a graphic symbol designed to represent the contents. ---- Subject: British Telecommuncations plc (BT) Q: Why is there no 0345 access to PSS Dialplus ? [Two answers to this one:] There are probably two main reasons why this is not done. 1) 0345 services (and 0800, 0898, 0891) were designed to give country-wide access at the appropriate charge rate to a specific number in a specific area of the country. There **is** also a method of directing calls originating in a specific area to a regional number - eg - 0345 123456 dialled in Brighton would route to a number somewhere in South East England, and the same number dialled in Scotland would route to a number in, say, Glasgow (cf. BT's experts service - ~Advanced LinkLine~). In both cases the renter of the 0345 number pays for the trunk call part of the charge. The PSS service has PADs all over the UK, ie dozens of them, so that PSS traffic is not tying up trunk circuits. That would negate the whole point of the service!. The complexity of determining the 0345 routing to all these local PADs is probably not worth it. 2) The services are currently carried on an overlay network with its own exchanges. By their nature, most of these services are short holding time calls (despite the incidence of children spending long hours on chat-lines & pop music feeds), and the network is dimensioned for this. It is certainly not designed to carry relatively long holding time traffic to PADs! Perhaps, in the future Intelligent Network Databases will allow this sort of universal number access to lots of local nodes using the existing local network, but that's not imminent as far as I know. [However, another explanation has been proffered - Ed.] This question was asked, some years ago, at a `Character Terminal Implementors Group' meeting (a UK group which inputs to CCITT [now ITU] on the X.3, X.28 and X.29 recommendations, now defunct). The representatives from BT Network Services said that since BT was split up into different commercial divisions, BT Network Services would have to pay the full going rate for an 0345 (or 0800) number. That charge would obviously have to get passed on to the PAD user, and on average it would be higher than that of the phone calls made by the PAD user since the majority of them could make a local call. That's not a full answer, as there are bound to be savings in reducing the number of locations where PAD lines are located (be they real, or out-of-area lines to a PAD somewhere else), but it seemed as though BT Network Services were well aware of the possibility, and would take decisions on cost grounds. A factor which is obviously difficult to quantify is the value of having a single number which PAD users can call. One slight technical hitch is that an NUI is not necessarily known at all PAD centres. Q: What **are** these Network Services/ Select Services that people keep mentioning? Are they a BT version of teletext or something? Do you have to pay for them? [Culled from information provided by P.K.Chawdhry@newcastle.ac.uk (Pravir K Chawdhry), clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather) and pkh@cs.nott.ac.uk (Kevin Hopkins).] Select (formerly Network) Services are available on BT's digital exchanges (System X and System Y) and are usually available on the payment of a quarterly rental, though some are available solely on the payment of a per usage charge. [PLEASE NOTE: This is just a summary, for a full list and charges please see the seperate posting "BT Network Services information" <uk-telecom-network-services_834965264@blodwen.demon.co.uk>] Set up features: 5 == Retry When Not Busy (when busy tone heard) (System Y) *21*number# Call Diversion (all calls) *261# Call Barring (incoming) *34bar# Call Barring (outgoing) *40*number# Call Charge Advice (System X) *40*number Call Charge Advice (System Y) *411# Call Charge Advice on all calls *43# Call Waiting *51*code*number# Code Calling *55*time# Reminder Call *56*time*programme# Reminder Programme (System X) *61*number# Call Diversion (no reply) *61*number*wait# == Call Diversion (no reply) (Extra System Y facility) *67*number# Call Diversion (on busy) Code Calling calls: ** 0 Repeat Last Call (excluding Code Calling calls) ** code Code Calling call Status checks on settings: *#001# Check which services are active (System X) *#21# Call Diversion (all calls) *#261# Call Barring (incoming) *#34# Call Barring (outgoing) *#411# Call Charge Advice on all calls *#43# Call Waiting *#51*code# Code Calling *#55# Reminder Call *#56# Regular Programme (System X) *#61# Call Diversion (no reply) *#67# Call Diversion (on busy) Cancel features: #21# Call Diversion (all calls) #261# Call Barring (incoming) (System X) #261*keyword# Call Barring (incoming) [System Y] #34bar*keyword# Call Barring (outgoing) #37# == Retry When Not Busy [System Y] #411# Call Charge Advice on all calls #43# Call Waiting #51*code# Code Calling #55# Reminder Call #56*time*programme# Reminder Programme (System X) #56# Reminder Programme (System X) #61# Call Diversion (no reply) #67# Call Diversion (on busy) Q: When I use call waiting, and press R to get the dialling tone so that I can get to the new caller, nothing happens i.e. no dialling tone. You may have switched your phones to tone dialling but there should be a separate switch to change the type of recall from Earth Loop to Timed Break (which is essential to use Call Waiting fully). Sometimes there is only one switch, three position (LD/MFE/MFT) in which case you want MFT. Some MF phones do NOT have the Timed Break (MFT) option - in which case you would need a new phone to make full use of the service. Q: How do I order BT's full price list ? >> The BT price list I ordered finally turned up... it wasn't what I >> expected - it's a thin leaflet with basically little more information >> than the residential price guide you get with your bill. Then it simply isn't the **price list**. It may be what BT try to fob you off with when you ask for a copy of the price list. Now ring them back and insist on the REAL THING ! (BT reference is TRF/BTP/A100 et seq.) The person responsible for co-ordinating the price list is Damien O'Reilly. You can write to him at: PP 4029, 2-12 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7AG, or else fax your request through on (0171) 356 7340. Q: How do I get a BT 'Midnight line'? Be sure to phone 152, not 150, and be persistent that such things exist! BT product number A12342. Connection is UKP499.50 +VAT; Rental is UKP358.80 +VAT per quarter (at 10/12/1993), on top of the 'normal' BT charges. Between Midnight and 6am the charges for all calls or parts of calls in local, regional and national charge bands are suppressed. All other calls are charged at the normal rates appropriate at the time. Premium Calls are barred as normal. All other times normal metering. Since the charging is suppressed at the pricing computer, not at the exchange, the free calls will show normal charging on real time advice facilities (Select Services Charge Advice, Meter Pulse Facility and ISDN Call Charge Indication). Break even point was formally approx. someone making a 110 units of calls a night, 5 days a week 52 weeks of the year. Since BT no longer charges in units the break even point is slightly altered, but one must account for the minimum charge. The break even is also affected by any discount options on the line (which reduce the price that would have been paid for the calls were it not a Midnight Line). Q: Are calls made on Midnight lines **outside** the Midnight-6am free period charged at normal dialled rates? Certainly they are. If they are directly dialled, that is ! Q: Can I get a fully itemised bill from BT ? Yes, with the proviso that you are on a System X or Y exchange, fully-itemised billing from BT is now available. There is no charge for the service. You can choose between all calls, 2-, 5- and 10-unit itemisation, or no itemisation. TXE4(RD) exchanges can also now offer this service. Delivery of itemisation records on floppy disk is being trialled, and has been so for some time. The size of the trial is to be increased. A single-sheet paper bill is also sent, for legal reasons (including VAT). A charge is made for the analysis software, which runs under MS Windows. Another suggestion to accomplish itemisation of any call on a bill, which already includes 10 units and over itemisation, has been proffered: Dial 0800 500 005, press 'recall' (**not** redial) and dial the number. Any number will apparently work, though recorded information lines (you could also try 0800 556677) obviously won't annoy a real person. This will only work if you have 3-way calling. Q: How can I get ISDN? Some BT exchanges offer ISDN (to find out whether **your** exchange can offer it, you need to talk to BT sales), and it works out rather more expensive by way of line rental than does an ordinary line, but call rates (apart from special offers) are the same. At least some other carriers also offer ISDN - try asking those that are to be found in your area (for example, I believe Cambridge Cable do). Note that an ISDN connection to Mercury via 131 (even if Mercury have ISDN capability) is probably a no-hoper. Mercury now do ISDN access via 132. It needs to be signed for seperately from the normal Mercury service. Q: What are the costs of ISDN connection and calls? For ISDN2 (Basic Rate Access), the connection charge is UKP400 and the quarterly rental is UKP84. Call charges are the same as the normal PSTN for national calls, but there are differences upon international routes. Q: What does an 0990 number offer you, and what is its cost? Setup Charge: UKP100 Rental : UKP 50 : UKP300 (for 'Number Choice') {*} (ex VAT.) The number can be delivered to any BT line, or cable line (as I was told by a BT spokesperson - so take that as being unreliable!). From the info sheet: >>"The charges callers pay are aligned to BT's National Long Distance >>charges. This means that a three minute daytime call will cost 30p, >>dropping to 20p on weekday evenings and to 10p at weekens. (These >>prices include VAT.) >> >>Calles from overseas will pay the standard international direct >>dial charges from their country to the UK. >>Businesses are not charged for the receipt of basic Nationalcall >>0990 calls." ---- Subject: Caller ID/ Caller Identification (CLI/CLID) Q: Is Caller ID available in the UK ? Yes. A detailed discussion paper covering most of the issues, including an appendix by the Data Protection Registrar and the results of a survey of public attitudes, was published as follows Consultative document : calling line identification / issued by the Director General of Telecommunications. September 1993. 20 pages. (contact Oftel for this) from the April 1994 BABT Newsletter >> CALLER DISPLAY SERVICES ON ANALOGUE PSTN LINES >> >> The draft SITS [Special Investigation & Test Schedule - ie. Specification] >> BABT/TC/128, which has been available for comment, will not be ratified by >> the BABT Technical Committee until OFTEL have resolved the position >> regarding competition between public network operators (PTOs). Other operator's networks are likely to offer similar services in the future at which time Caller ID will almost certainly be passed between networks. For BT, to use Caller Display you need a special telephone or display unit which show, and then store, the numbers of incoming callers. Call Return simply stores the number of your last incoming caller, and will work with any phone. You can dial 1471 to get a reading of the last number that attempted to ring (free). There are a range of free options for preventing their identity going forward on outgoing calls and blocking incoming anonymous calls. The simplest of these is the '141' service which blocks caller id going forward on a per-call basis. You can also have all calls blocked and then release per-call with '1470'. For more information on Caller Display and Call Return call 0800 801471. [See the archive for some technical information upon BT's CLI or try and find British Telecommunications Engineering, Volume 12, part 3- October 1993] Q: What PSTN phones support Caller ID? BT has one PSTN phone- the Relate 1000, that supports Caller ID. Early releases of this phone suffered from a problem where the unit's processor would 'hang', causing the Caller ID display to miss incoming calls until the handset is picked up. To fix this problem, ask BT to supply a phone with a serial number ending "B22" (or, presumably, later versions). Reports say that even the latest phones miss the occaisional call, but doesn't crash. Various ideas for the missing calls, including noisy lines between Exchange and handset, have been suggested. Q: What ISDN phones support Caller ID, decoding and displaying it? DP2000 From BT - is an ISDN phone with analogue jack and RS-232 38K port It does CLI, MSN, stores last 10 CLI so you can return your calls and it looks OK. (Caller ID to ISDN costs UKP3.40 per quarter). Q: I've seen a couple of ads in Exchange & Mart for Caller ID devices... anyone know if these really work ? No. They are EITHER boxes made to the USA standard (which was not adopted in the UK) or boxes that ask callers to input their number in MF tones, and then display what is input. Q: Can I route a call to different devices depending upon the CLI? Yes, at least one such device exists and has been discussed: Lineplex CS200 Call Router Uses the CLI service to switch calls based on the caller's telephone number Stores 60 telephone numbers that can be directed to one or other of two ports Totally silent operation Can be interfaced to PC to upload CLI information Supplied with software to display and store phone line Overnight e-mail Priority call routing Call seperation Rejection of unwanted calls From Lineplex Ltd, Fairmile House, High Street, Ripley, Surrey GU23 6AN Tel 01483 211858; Fax 01483 211632. Price is UKP135 + VAT ---- Subject: Call barring Q: Will BT provide a line with all outgoing calls disabled except to Mercury? As it happens they will, if you subscribe to network services (Call Barring). They used to try blocking Mercury 131 as well, when a caller used Call Barring, but that nice Mr Oftel had a word with them about it... Q: Is it possible to bar reverse charge calls on a line that allows incoming calls? For payphone lines, BT add a (very annoying) tone for the first minute of incoming calls, to indicate to the operator that this line is not to accept reverse harge calls. I am not sure of the details, but am fairly certain this is an option you can ask for, just tell them you have a private payphone on the line. You may have to pay for it, possibly combined with meter pulsing. Q: What are the newly announced plans for barring 0898 Adult Entertainment premium-rate numbers? Phoning one of these numbers now requires use of a PIN (personal identification number) from your telephone, and they will only provide you with such a number if you **ask** for one. This number is required for 0898 Premium rate numbers, {*} and also for Voda's 0338 number range. ---- Subject: Engaged lines Q: If someone's number is permanently engaged, what can you do? Phone the operator. They can forward you to the operator local to that phone who is able to tell you if the receiver hasn't been replaced properly, by listening into the line. Lines that are off hook for more than a certain period can sometimes return a 'number unobtainable' tone when dialled. Q: What can BT do about a phone off the hook? BT used to use a 'howler', but this is belived to have been discontinued several years ago because of the risk of ear damage if someone picked up an extension phone once the "graduated howler" had reached full volume. [My TXE4 exchange "parked the call" after 20 seconds and went quiet after 1 minute.] BT can request that you do not leave your telephone off the hook. If you continue to leave the phone in this manner then apparently you are blocking a line at the exchange. BT have withdrawn their service from several people who, after being warned, have continued to leave their telephones off the hook. ---- Subject: Automatic announcements Q: What are the meanings of the various automatic announcements? [anyone want to offer some to add to this list?] 'The Number you have dialled is not accepting calls at present.' - The called party had Incoming Call Barring (*261#) set, costs UKP7 per quarter. 'Please hold the line while we try to connect you. The number you are calling, knows you are waiting.' - Called party has call waiting. {*} This message is now interspersed with a Ring Tone. 'Sorry, your call is not being answered, please try later.' - Call waiting set, but they rejected the waiting call or ignored the five-second bleep. Recall (wait for dial tone) 0 turns off the bleep to reject the incoming call. Your caller is told that the call cannot be connected. If you reject a waiting call, no more calls will be offered until your number is free. 'Please hold the line, calls to this number are being diverted' - Called party has call diversion set (you may only get this announcement for call diversion on no reply). 'Sorry, the number you have called is not available' - Number is temporarily out of service. 'Sorry, the service requested is not available from this line' - You haven't rented the Network Service you're trying to use. 'The number you have dialled has not been recognised, please check and try again' - Number does not exist. 'Sorry, you have dialled an invalid service code, please replace the handset and consult your instructions' - You misdialled a network service code. 'This number is not accepting calls at present, please try later' - When calling an I/C barred number from System X to System X. Q: What are those 'Doh dah dee' tones? The "Doh dah dee" is usually known as "Special Information Tone" or SIT. Frequency Cadence 950+-50Hz 330+-70ms 0 to 30ms between tones 1400+-50Hz 330+-70ms 1800+-50Hz 330+-70ms 1000+-250ms pause ---- Subject: Chargecards Q: I want to get a BT Chargecard, the problem seemed to be that you need to be a current customer (have a phone) to be able to get one. Is this so? If it is why is it so? It is now possible to bill directly to most major credit cards, ie. you don't personally require a residential line to apply for a card. BT Chargecard can be reached on 0800 345 144 Q: Why can't I direct dial with my BT chargecard on Cellnet ? Apparently BT have not yet put the infrastructure in for direct-dial from any Cellnet phone, though operator calls are possible. Funny thing is, you can't make even operator calls from Vodafone phones, even though you can supposedly make them from any country in the world with a BT Chargecard. Q: What itemisation do I get with a BT Chargecard? On your bill, you are told what number you called and how much it cost, but not where it was made from. Q: What service do you get with the Mercury Calling Card? 3 levels of service. - Premier = world wide - UK = uk only - 3 call = 3 nominated numbers only. Access is via any phone line on a 0500 number (phone on 0500 100 505 for more info). There is a surcharge for operator connected calls, but if you had to do this because the BT phone wasn't capable of DTMF, there is no surcharge. If you have a Mercury account you can have the Calling Card bill integrated with that. If you don't, or you choose not to, you can still have a card and be sent a seperate bill. The bill includes full itemisation of both called and calling number. The Mercury card is cheaper than BT's for UK calls. Mercury's calling card number cannot be directly called from an Orange phone. To use it, you must dial the Orange operator and ask them to connect you. There is a fee levied for this. Q: What service do you get with BT's Chargecard - Quickcall - only one number can be dialled using the card. - All numbers in the UK. - All numbers worldwide. ---- Subject: Other Telephone services Q: What is AT&T Direct? AT&T Direct is a way to contact the AT&T operator in the USA without having to ring any operator in the UK (or whichever country you happen to be in). It offers a means of calling, (normally) without the use coins, without going through the operator, avoiding high hotel surcharges when travelling. Calls can be placed to the US from 130 countries, and between more than 75 countries. AT&T place advers listing access numbers in international editions of most newspapers. You can contact AT&T in the UK, on 0800 064 0001 or via AT&T direct itself on 0500 89 7801. You would need an account with AT&T to use it to call the USA. It **may** be cheaper than dialling via BT but don't bank on this. Other phone companies in the US, such as Sprint on 0800 890 222, offer similar services. They have also announced an arrangement with Mercury for 0500 89 0011. calls to the US placed through this number should cost ~slightly less~. [Someone else proffered this information - Ed.] When I last compared rates between AT&T, Sprint, MCI, BT & Mercury (I have accounts with all five...don't ask why). Mercury seemed to be about the cheapest, but had the poorest quality connections. The real killer with all US carriers is the 1st minute charges. I think it costs over $3 for the first minute. It's not too bad averaged out over a long call, but if you get an answering machine on the other end you are stuffed. With Mercury if I get an answering machine it costs 10-20p for the call. I know MCI has a scheme that will allow UK residents to have MCI cards, I don't know about Sprint and AT&T. Here are the UK numbers for MCI: 0800 89 0222 Sprint: 0800 89 0877 Interglobe : 0500 581413 WorldPlus : 0500 110110 WorldDirect: 0800 181153 TRT : 0800 890456 Longshore : 0800 892340 Most will allow calling cards to be set up to credit cards for UK residents, or allow billing direct to credit cards if you have a telephone PIN set up on your card. Q: What is Flextel? Flextel (0701 0701 701) - which uses part of the 0956 (Mercury One2One) number range - is a personal numbering service. It is NOT a Mercury product. Flextel like to call it a **flexible** numbering service. Since 7 June 1995, Flextel have also been using 0701 codes. Basically you buy a Flextel number and just tell Flextel where you want calls that number to be connected. They then connect them. If you want the destination changed, you simply tell Flextel what you want it changed to. In a little while you also will be able to update the destination by DTMF input. Standard service subscribers have nothing to pay apart from the annual charge. There is no monthly bill, no hiddden cost. The caller pays for the whole of the call. For calls from BT a small translation fee is charged to the caller. This fee is significantly less than 1 penny per minute over normal trunk cheap rate. Peak rate rises to just over 2p/min. For call from some other operators. there is now an additional fee. The small fee is sufficient to onward route calls to all normal UK numbers. (Connection charge UKP141, Annual service charge UKP28.20 both incl. of VAT). See <URL:http://www.flextel.co.uk/> for their info. Q: What ways are there of calling the US cheaper than BT or Mercury? Swiftcall (0171) 488 2001 have service to North America, a few Asian countries, Australia, and Israel. You subscribe by calling them and quoting your VISA or Access details. They debit your credit card by UKP23.50 (UKP20 + VAT) and set up an account with that value. Call charges, at the moment [16 Mar 94], are as follows UK-USA/Canada Normal Rate (Mon 09.00 - Fri 21.00) 24p/min UK-USA/Canada Cheap Rate (Fri 21.00 - Mon 09.00) 20p/min (remember to add on the cost of the 0171 call to their UK switch & VAT) Once your account is set up you dial an access number, enter your 9-digit PIN and then you're given American Dial Tone (provided by Sprint - 'phone +1 700 555 4141 on the US dialtone to hear). There are no minimum usage surcharges. When you have used your paid for units you can 'phone them up and purchase more. You can write them a letter giving specific authorisation if you are concerned. [Comparison at October, 1993: Sources - Swiftcall/ jharuni@micrognosis.co.uk. BT column includes Option 15; BT Prices at 15 May 1994] Destination Swiftcall BT BT PremierLine Mercury band Australia 67p 58.2p 6 49.4p 61.9p Canada/USA 34p 46.6p 4 39.6p 38.4p Hong Kong 65p 81.1p 8 69.0p 77.4p India 100p 141.0p 12 119.8p 101.7p Israel 100p 108.1p 9 91.9p 96.5p Japan 100p 126.5p 11 107.6p 98.6p To call Use Australia BT or Mercury Canada/USA Swiftcall Hong Kong Swiftcall India Swiftcall or Mercury Israel Mercury or BT Japan Mercury or Swiftcall [BT reduced prices to Australia from Feburary 94] Telepassport by Mastercall (01933) 401552 offer up to 70% discounts on US calls. For a fixed one-off fee of UKP25, the user gets a New York phone number which, after dialling and hanging up, calls back the UK number with a US dialling tone. The UK user can then make calls or faxes anywhere in the US at 50 cents perminute any time of the day. Telepassport is run by the editor of the Telecom Digest, Pat Townson (<ptownson@eecs.nwu.edu>). For further information, send the following email message To: tel-archives@lcs.mit.edu Subject: (will be ignored) reply ~user@email.address~ info telepassport help end Business Communications Management (BCM) offer a service which gives you a US dialtone. Rates from the UK to the US or US to UK are $0.29/minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, based on a 30-second minumum, six-second increment billing, $25/month minimum usage and a $50 sign-up fee. This is charged to your credit card (Master card/ Visa/ AmEx/ Diners). Email <vthiry@netcom.com> for an ascii version of their brochure and price list. Dial International Telecom Limited (0181) 490 5000 offer a service similar to Swiftcall, you use your credit card to charge an account, and then can talk until the credit runs out. Uk -> US rates: Daytime rate: 20p/min cheap rate: 17p/min (where cheap/daytime are as BT define them) No connection/sign up fee, minimum pre-payment UKP25 at set up, payable by cheque, credit card or travellers cheques. London PoP. They also run a callback system, when you dial an 0181 number from abroad, and the company call you back and give you a UK dial tone.... (charged at the same rates as if you direct dialled from the UK to the country). Number they callback is preprogrammed, but user changeable. Special offer at the moment. For calling the states, if you set up with a pre-payment of UKP100 you get the first 1/2 Hr free... First Telecom plc (0171) 572 7700 (<enquiry@first-telecom.com>) offer 'Globally Speaking' [prices at 11 Mar 1996] Globally Weekend BT BT Speaking Special Country Standard Economy Standard Economy Offer USA 33.60 32.20 14p 14p 10p Other destinations at <URL:http://www.first-telecom.com/> Weekends are Friday 8pm to Monday 8am. They bill in 15 seconds increments, take no setup fee, and initial minimum purchase is UKP10 (UKP11.75 incl. VAT). If prepaying UKP100 they offer 2% discount, if prepaying UKP200 they give 3% discount. They take credit cards, and you can give them authorisation to charge when your account is running 'low'. It is also possible to call US 800 numbers at the above charges. Q: Who are ACC? ACC Long Distance UK Ltd 414 Chiswick High Road London W4 5TF Telephone: (0181) 995 3144 Fax: (0181) 995 8230 There is no membership fee, signup fee or monthly fee's on the ACCess 1601 service. Calls are charged to the nearest second and with a minimum charge of 3 seconds. International calls are billed to the nearest six second increment. Billing is monthly and includes a fully itemised statement. Bills can be paid on account, via Direct Debit or via a Visa or Mastercard credit card. Check if you wish to use Visa Delta debit card or similar. ACCess 1601 Residential service available on DIGITAL exchanges: [at November 1994, supplied by brian@emcentre.demon.co.uk] Standard Economy Weekend National Calls over 56.4km 6.20 3.70 2.50 National Calls up to 56.4km 5.50 2.60 2.25 Local Calls, See Note 5.85 5.85 5.85 Calls to PCN's 11.15 7.15 As Economy Calls to Mobile Phones 37.00 27.00 As Economy Calls to Premium Rate Services 39.00 33.20 As Economy NOTE: ACCess 1601 service is not designed for your local calls. However if used, local calls will be charged as stated. ---- Subject: Facsimile/ FAX machines Q: Where can I get a FAX switch from? HCS Global.... They have London and Scottish outlets. They make an excellent product that can do voice, Modem & Fax... cost is about UKP120-150. Cheap models can be obtained for a good deal less. RJB Communications (01932) 253 131 has been reported as a cheaper source for these Faxlink devices. The Lineshare 5000 switch from Lineplex (01483) 211 632, its UKP195 +VAT but very versatile. There are four outputs Phone, TAM, FAX & modem. All the timings can be set, and also can be set to be different depending on whether the switch is set to "IN" or "OUT". It can also recognise that you are "OUT" and changeover to that mode - ditto it can recognise that you are "IN". You can set time windows for IN and OUT, and any of the four outputs can be selected by the caller (old models support just pulse dialling, newer ones two DTMF digits). Q: What is the legal status of messages transmitted via Facsimile? In the last few years, a law was passed making documents sent by Fax as legally valid as the original (but I'd still check with your lawyer). ---- Subject: Radio Pagers Q: What are recommended pager companies in the UK? For many people choice is limited by coverage. Richard Cox (<richard@mandarin.com>) writes >>From my experience (including an independent user trial of the five main >>paging companies, in which I participated), I would **definitely** say that >>Hutchison provide the best service. >>Bottom of the list, by a wide margin, was Mercury ... and second to bottom >>was Vodapage. I used to use Vodapage - but not now I have tried >>Hutchison! ---- Subject: Cellular Mobile phones Q: I was recently offered a "free" Cellphone with a product I bought. While I accept that it may be a condition of accepting the "free" phone that you also subscribe to their airtime, is it actually ~illegal~ not to purchase an agreement with the phone? When you buy a phone from Dixons, say, rather than from a dealer (who gets a golden hello of 100 quid + from the air time provider) you don't have to sign up with anyone. All you get is a info pack for Call Connections (with Cellnet). The phone in this case is pre-registered with Cellnet, but that shouldn't prevent you from signing up with Vodafone. However, in your case, the supplier of your "free" phone is expecting a nice big kick-back when you sign up, and is unlikely to give you the phone without an airtime agreement. Usually this type of disreputable dealer will rip you off for rental and call charges, to recover the subsidy of the "free" phone. When the dealer says its illegal, what he really means is that its unprofitable for him! Also, beware of gotchas such as the following - peak time 0700-2300 including Saturdays (ie. all calls are at peak rate) - 90 days minimum notice after 12 months min contract = 15 months min contract - itemised billing 3-4 quid/month - call charges > Cellnet/vodafone reccommended prices - compulsory (and very expensive) insurance & maintenance contracts Q: Will calls from PSTN lines to mobile phones, in other countries, work? What premium will I pay above the normal charges? Yes it will work. It costs the same as phoning a normal number in that country. One daft thing about the current charges is that it can cost less to phone a Eircell mobile phone in the Irish Republic from the UK than it costs to phone the car parked outside your window (if you would want to!). Q: Will inbound access to UK mobiles work? You can call any UK mobile phone from overseas. Q: Where can I get details of Cellnet, Vodafone, One2One and Orange coverage? One of the two mobile phone magazines available ("What Cellular Phone"?) has coverage maps for Vodafone TACS, Vodafone GSM, Cellnet TACS and One2One in the back pages. You can also get Carphone Warehouse's (0800 424 800) colour catalogue, which includes the maps. Orange have info on 0800 286 286. There are some coverage maps made available for Orange at <URL:http://info.mcc.ac.uk/MCC/OtherPages/Orange/>. Q: Why do analogue cellphones have a 'soft' serial number, enabling alteration? It is a problem with the cellphone manufacturers, NOT the TACS/ETACS specification which states that the ESN should be hard coded within the phone. However this causes huge problems when the phone goes for servicing or gets broken etc. so many put the ESN in EPROM, EEROM, PROM etc. therefore cloning becomes very easy. With GSM or PCN (which is based upon the GSM spec, but at a higher frequency) the ESN's are stored in a different way. You also have two 'ESN' per phone, one for the phone itself and one for the SmartCard with the user details. Both have to be validated. Interestingly, authentication of a mobile subscriber for use in a TACS network is available. The method that is defined in Issue 4 of the TACS specification has been implemented my all the major vendors of mobile equipment. The network side of the implementation is already in place in the UK, Italy, China and the UAE. The system is cheap to introduce into the mobile phone and is also very secure. But operators like Vodafone and Cellnet have not promoted the use of TACS authentication. Q: What do Cellnet Callback and Vodafone Messenger offer? Who do I ring for help? Both offer storage of messages whilst your phone is switched off or unavailable (eg the network is busy or you don't have a signal), in fact the voicemail software is written by the same company. For Messenger help, ring the Messenger help line on 0836 823823. They will set up an account with a PIN so that only you can access your messages. They'll also tell you how to set up the divert etc. To activate the Messenger's recall box, dial 121 and ask the operator to activate the facility. However, if you do not use the recall service for more than 30 days, then you will have to re-call 121 and ask them to switch it back on again. Q: What prompts the Cellnet callback or Vodafone Messenger systems to call back? 1. The network was busy when there was an incoming call, but it now has spare capacity, or the switch/ cell site you were using had no capacity to pass the call. 2. You were in a no service area, but now you are available again. Each cellphone is required to register itself when it is turned on, or has moved into an area of coverage from no coverage. They also reregister every now and again just to ensure the network hasn't forgotten about them. When an outgoing call is made - this performs a registration. The network can also 'page' the phone, both for incoming calls and to send you callback messages. The paging can also occur to get the phone to reregister. Both networks have the facilities to try and help you with regards to coverage in your area, etc. Ring the operators from the cellphone. Q: Who are the 'People's phone'? People's Phone is a service of Cellular Communications Corp., a Vodafone and Cellnet service provider. People's Phone claim to offer a "better" deal for cellular phone users. They have a generally reasonable air-time contract, with various guarantees as to no increases etc., and attempt to be down-to-earth and trustworthy. Their marketing is targetted at (1) people who don't understand the wide variety of services and contracts in the cellular industry and (2) people who've had their fingers burned with other companies. Of particular note is their "Quota" system. You agree (in advance) a limit to your call charges each month. When you reach that limit, the network inhibits further outgoing calls until the beginning of the next billing period. Incoming calls still work. You can change this Quota at any time. Some other features of their system - No charge for unconnected calls - No charge for a call answered by a Vodafone recorded message; however, if your call is to a number on a different network (e.g. Cellnet or BT) then it will be chargeable. - No charge for any call lasting less than four seconds - In the event of a dropped call, if you dial 100 immediately afterwards the operator will reconnect the call with the first minute of the reconnected call free of charge. Q: How can I check the status of a GSM or PCN phone's divert and call waiting? The *# codes are specified in the GSM standard and thus apply to all GSM and PCN phones. F1 -> menu -> determine divert status *#21# to check number for "All Calls Divert" *#67# to check number for "On Busy Divert" *#61# to check number for "On No Reply Divert" *#62# to check number for "Divert if unreachable (off or out of range) *#43# to check call waiting status. To set divert: ** 21*number# ** 67 On Busy Divert ** 61 On No Reply Divert (etc) Q: What facilities are present in GSM and PCN handsets (like Orange and One2One) to counter 'phone thieves? The new breed of GSM/PCN mobile phones use a Smartcard or SIM. This makes it possible to use any valid card in your phone. It also means that the phone number will change depending on the card. Both the mobile and SIM are validated before a call is set up. Therefore if the mobile is reported stolen it won't work even with a valid card. GSM and PCN both make use of encryption. [Robin Fairburns writes:] >>The security applies to the air path between the mobile and the base >>station ... and it's not as strong as they would like you to believe >>-- someone with the sorts of resources that GCHQ has can crack it in >>some modest number of minutes. If you think about it for a moment or >>two, you'll realise that the only way you could have an encrypted path >>right the way to the receiving telephone would be if that had >>decryption capability. On the whole, I would prefer a mobile that let >>me call anyone to one that was "in principle" totally secure. >>It'll deter the casual idiot with his mobiles scanner, however. >>Legally speaking, the landline can only be tapped in course of >>engineering work (information gained from which should not be allowed >>to propagate), or subject to a warrant signed by the home secretary. >>Of course >>- a) if you believe that you'll believe anything, and >>- b) if you trust _him_, you probably don't care about the government >> having free access to any calls you make. Q: What are the functions possible with Hutchison's Voice messaging service? After you've keyed in your PIN etc. Message retrieval: 2 delete last msg 3 play messages most recent first 4 play messages oldest first 5 replay last msg heard 6 play all msgs 7 play time and date information 9 forward msg (enter mailbox number followed by #) Extended forwarding: 13 to enter extended forwarding 2 confirm msg to be forwarded 7 to prepend a comment 9 to append a comment 5 to listen to complete message with comments 6 followed by # to actually send the message 10 to return to normal message retrieval mode. Q: What are the phone numbers for the GSM network SMS 'message centres'. Key: MT = Mobile Terminated SMS MO = Mobile Originated SMS Text = text-based input TAP = Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (a paging standard) Inter-network codes: Incoming: Mobiles from this network can be sent messages from external SCsOutgoing: The SC on this network can send messages to mobiles connected to other networks RemoteSC: Mobiles on this network can send MO messages to SCs on other networks UK-in: Network can receive SMS messages from UK OLO SCs UK-out: SC can send SMS messages to UK OLO subscribers DTMF access to MT: Vodafone 0385 490490 Modem access to MT: Vodafone 0385 499499, Text, 7E1, 2400 Cellnet 0860 980480, TAP, 8N1, 14400 Orange 0973 100602, Text, ?, ? One2One ?, TAP, ?, ? (on test) Inter-network: Orange ? One2One ? Cellnet Incoming, Outgoing, RemoteSC Vodafone RemoteSC MO to MT: Vodafone +44 385 016 005 Orange +44 973 100 973 Cellnet (on test), ? One2One ? MO to elsewhere: Vodafone Paknet Orange ? Cellnet ? One2One ? ---- Subject: Phone Call charges Q: Why are some numbers charged for when they don't exist? Seeing as how charging starts upon b-answer it's unlikely, unless they consider the through-connection of the voice message telling you that the number is non-existant as the b-answer. If so, I agree that this is wrong. CCITT [now ITU] E.231 recommends that no charge should be made for calls which terminate on services for suspended, cancelled or transferred subscribers. However, there is also E.124, which is entitled "Discouragement of frivolous international calling to unassigned or vacant numbers answered by recorded announcements without charge". This recommends that the provisions of E.231 may be suspended if it is determined that calls to specific out of service numbers are "predominantly frivolous." This situation often occurs with the Cellular networks. As things stand right now, only calls that are answered get charged. Calls that get engaged or ring tones ~ONLY~ are not charged. Exception: calls that route to a mobile network (or to a direct-dialling-in PABX) and THEN divert to an external number, are charged from the moment the diversion takes place, even if the diverted leg of the call fails to connect (for whatever reason). But, in the context, answered can mean "answered by the mobile network on behalf of the called party". Of course we all know that phrase is a con, but BT insisted on the Cellular networks agreeing to do this, before they would allow them to interconnect with the BT network. Mercury followed suit! A cellular network answers calls on behalf of the called party (and plays that annoying announcement) when either: (a) it can't get a response from the called telephone (even if this is solely due to congestion in its own network) or (b) the telephone is rung for 45 seconds without a reply. Q: What are the costs of running 0345 and 0800 number services? (pence per minute approx. These are the costs to the holder of the line.) Peak Standard Off-Peak 0345 13 10 7 (+cost to caller 4.4 3.2 1) 0800 16 12 9 Try also contacting British Airways Speedwing who are reselling their bulk purchased time for these services on to other potential users. They are offering between 17-20% discounts depending on usage. The sevice is called SpeedLine and sounds curious only in so much as the only thing you seem to get from SpeedLine is an order/service. BT do everything else including billing you. Call Speedwing on (0181) 564 1000; Peter Jones is on (0181) 564 1489. [info given by Alan Jay - alanj@ibmpcug.co.uk, 14 feb 94] Q: What are the current phone-call costs? [See seperate postings, <URL:http://www.pobox.com/%7Etis/>, or contact your telephone provider] Q: What is an 'average' 'phone bill for the US, as a comparison? [from julian@bongo.tele.com] >>The average bill with "Unlimited local calling" in Pacific Bell territory >>is $13-14 per month. Of course Long Distance increases that. I have some >>lines that are used for local calls only - two modem lines - They are busy >>about 16 hours per day each. I pay $13 and change per month for each line >> >>The average U.S. residential line is used 20 minutes per day. Q: So how do the Americans price their 'phone calls then? (and other myths) [from julian@bongo.tele.com] >> Also note that 'local' in the US often means 'own exchange', whereas for >> BT is is charging-group related, which usually means all the exchanges in >> your local area. In the U.S., most phone companies have several "tarrifs" or rates. For example in Pacific Bell Southern California. You can get "measured service" which means local calls are charged at $0.10 per min. Or variations of the above, say so many free local calls, and any above that number are measured. You can also get "unlimited local calling". For a fixed fee, you get all the local calls you want. The "local calling area" is usually a 8 -16 mile radius. Unlimited local calls for residential use costs me about $14.00 per month. Long distance calls are extra. So unless "own exchange" is a rural one with dispersed subscribers local calling areas encompass up to hundreds of exchanges as is the case in the Los Angeles area. [For comparison, $14.00 is about UKP9, or about UKP27 per quarter, against BT's quarterly rental of UKP25 (or very close, at 17/04/1995, + VAT). ] Q: What happens with the cost of calls which last over two or more charge bands? In a GPO Strowger exchange this situation was handled by splitting a unit into 10 part-units. At changeover, therefore, you'd be over/undercharged by no more than 10%. With a crossbar, the "undercharge" was specified by PO/BT as an exchange facility (on the basis that a call must never be overcharged). The difference between Strowger and later systems was that timing of the subsequent periods proceeded in units of 10/10ths of nominal time whereas Strowger always gave 11/10ths on subsequent units (and between 10 and 11/10ths on initial). This was emulated by digital exchanges. Some old crossbar exchanges would charge the call at the original rate. With universal per-second charging, this is no longer the case. ---- Subject: Other Telecoms info Q: Where can I get an old style BT phone box from ? A couple of people suggested looking in small ad's in Sunday newspapers, Private Eye or Exchange and Mart. One or two people suggested contacting BT directly, but nobody claimed to have tries this or gave any suggestions as to which bit of BT to try. Mark Whidby (M.Whidby@mcc.ac.uk) remembers seeing a company with a yard full of 'phone boxes near Staleybridge. (Samples from Exchange and Mart.) One company in Essex (01277 899 495, Michael Smith) does them in off-street condition for UKP350+delivery+VAT or reconditioned at around UKP975+delivery+VAT. Another company (0161 767 9259) does them for UKP375+delivery (off-street) or UKP1250+delivery reconditioned. They said that there was no VAT (presumably they're a smaller company who aren't VAT registered?). They told me that customers usually found it cheaper to buy them reconditioned than to resort to DIY. Reconditioning includes stripping, filling and repainting the cast iron frame, replacing glass (including the `Telephone' signs), guilding the crowns and refurbishing the doors Customers who did their own refurbishment usually did it for pleasure or sentimental value rather than to save money. Delivery would cost UKP125 (from their Birmingham depot to me in Essex), or I could collect if I happened to have a lorry and a fork-lift. Suggestions for uses were showers, drinks cabinets, fish tanks, to grow plants in, to house a telephone, ... Q: So tell me some more about these old phone boxes The original K2 boxes (the ones with 6x3 almost-square panes in three of the foor walls) had teak doors. There aren't many of these left. What most people think of as a "red telephone box" is the K6 (with 8x3 very unsquare panes in three of the foor walls); they have metal doors, as do the later K8s. Some K2s and K6s are old enough to qualify for Listed Building status. There are 216 listed K2s (213 of these in London!), and 996 listed K6s. [Source: the excellent book "Telphone boxes" by Gavin Stamp, Chatto & Windus, 1989.] [end of uk.telecom FAQ part 2/3]