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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 9 May 95 20:12:00 CDT    Volume 15 : Issue 233

Inside This Issue:                          Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Frame-Relay to ISDN and ARA - Impossible? (Shuang Deng)
    Re: New Country Code 380 For Ukraine (Sam Spens Clason)
    Re: ISDN, BellSouth and OCN (Bradley Ward Allen)
    Re: RBOC IP Legislation Scaring Local ISPs? (Frank Atkinson)
    Re: Advice Needed About Answering Service (Greg Habstritt)
    Re: Suggestions For Two or Three Line PC Based Phone System (Gary
Valmain)
    Re: Call Trace Foulup Followed OK Bomb (Donald R. Newcomb)
    Re: Call Trace Foulup Followed OK Bomb (John Woods)
    Re: Rural Phone Companies (Lee Winson)
    Re: Rural Phone Companies (Paul J. Lustgraaf)
    Re: Resale of Telecommunications Services (Rick Dennis)

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



In article <[e-mail]>, James M. Haar
<jimhaar@netcom.
com> wrote:

> I would think that somehow, magically and mysteriously, Pac Bell could
> peel off the IP packets destined for Office #2, and reconvert them to
> the ISDN (synchronous from packet based ?) protocol, and then
> automatically open the ISDN connection to office #2.

There are several options avaiable for ISDN-FR interworking, either
customer premise and CO based.

The CO based systems have to be deployed by a carrier (LEC or IXC) on
a switch somewhere.  That's probably what you are asking for.
However, as far as I am aware of, currently avaiable systems initiate
the connection from ISDN only, for there is not much FR SVC deployed
yet. [Vendor should be able to still support PVC by starting the ISDN
call as soon as a packet is received from FR, and automatically
tearing down the connection after the link has been idle for a certain
period.]

If your carrier does not have enough demands to justify the deployment
cost at the switch, you would have to purchase your own, stand-alone
box to do the conversion from vendors (e.g., ISDN System Corp.)

A summary and evaluation of ISDN-FR interworking options by us was
presented at the recent Interop'95 engineering conference, and can be
found in the preceedings.  An extended version is to appear in the
Communication Systems Design, August/95 issue.  Drop me a note if you
don't have easy access to those publications.


Shuang Deng             Email:   [e-mail]
GTE Laboratories           or     [e-mail]
40 Sylvan Road          Phone: [phone]
Waltham, MA 02254, USA  Fax  : [phone]

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



In <[e-mail]> Clive D.W. Feather
<[e-mail].
uk> writes:

> I compared my country codes list with my list of ISO recognised
> countries and territories. The shared uses of codes I found were:

> 1     Shared by 21 countries, of which 1 has a new code allocated
> 269   Shared by 2 countries: Comoros and Mayotte
> 33    Shared by 3 countries, of which 2 have had new codes allocated

This referes to France, Andorra and Monaco. Is Monaco really going to
move out from 33?!  Monaco doesn't even have an area code, why would
they want a country code?

> 7     Shared by 9 countries, of which 3 have had new codes allocated

I think it's a *#* shame that ex-Soviet countries can't share +7 because
of national pride.

> So there's a potential need for 31 new codes. But 68 are still spare:

>    280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289
>            292 293 294 295
>            382 383 384             388
>                693 694 695 696 697 698 699
>        801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809
>    830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839
>        851         854         857 858 859
>        881 882 883 884 885     887 888 889
>    970                             978 979
>    990 991 992 993         996 997 998 999

Is there any word on the proposed international toll free +800 code?

> Oops, almost forgot. Apart from the 31 cases I listed before, there
are
> eight territories with no international code that I know of:

>    East Timor

Not if you ask the Indonesians.  To them East Timor is just another
province.

>    Western Sahara

Marocco regards Western Sahara to be the southern half of the country.
I.e. no need for a country code.


Sam   www.nada.kth.se/~d92-sam,   [e-mail],   [phone]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Good point you raise about the new toll-
free international scheme. I have heard nothing more on it recently from
Judith Oppenheimer, who readers will recall wrote on several occassions
to discuss the situation. Perhaps she will write again soon with an
update; what's been happening in the past couple months on this.   PAT]

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

key)


In article <[e-mail]>, Willard F. Dawson
<wdawson@crl.
com> wrote:

> [e-mail] (Bradley Ward Allen) writes:

[...]
>> Redundancy is better -- let all subscribers use whatever works best
at
>> the moment, as determined by a well-maintained set of routers.

> Redundant routers that kick in to the selected carrier of data rather
> than falling over to a different carrier are also possible ... and,
> required, in a RBOC environment that must compete with the likes of
> MFS and their "miss 1% a year, get the next year for free" attitude.

Yes but frequently the selected carrier of IP data cannot get packets
around.  For instance, I have had the worst luck with Sprint, however
since my main host only connects via it (argg when are they going to
upgrade?), I have a dependence on them.  My solution is to also have a
Netcom account, plus maintaining a short list of friends' passwords
for emergency use.  Last month, I think one out of five login sessions
had to be done via Netcom.  Tonight, Netcom hosts were down, luckily
Sprint isn't being a problem to me.

If I upgrade my system of two providers plus access to three others in
emergency needs (included are seven regional, international and
national networks), I'd want some incentive like automated packet
routing via whatever network is working and other redundancy measures.

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



> I feel I need to correct this perception that since the telco "owns"
> facilities that their use is "free" and they don't have to "pay extra"
> to use them. They are most certainly not free. They represent a
> capital investment by shareholders and therefore a return on the
> investment MUST be earned at a minimum. In fact, if shareholder
> investment is to not be diluted, these facilities must contribute at
> exactly the same level as those sold "externally". It is, therefore,
> imperative that all costs including "contribution" associated with
> these facilities be included in the price of any service that uses
> them.

Without going too deeply into the regulatory system that built the
network which took what the company spent, added a guaranteed rate of
return, and in some cases hidden taxes, then passed it on to the rate
payer's bill (rate of return regulation). The shareholder's position
has been fairly well protected. Maybe each ratepayer should be given
some company stock now that the network they built will be used to
compete. The company hasn't sold enough stock to fund the network, the
money came from the ratepayers, the ratepayers repaid the consturction
bonds, not the stockholders.

In a recent Ohio workshop on competetion an incumbent phone company
objected to calling the network a "public-switched-network" and
suggested there might be a questions of "lawful property rights"
should the commission require the incumbent to unbundle and share,
even though the customers funded it.


Frank Atkinson   [e-mail] or
                 [e-mail]

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



In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Brian D.
Petro) says:

> I am very seriously considering the idea of starting a business from
> my home selling voice-mail boxes.  As I have never been in the
> business, I am looking for advice from someone who has.
> I am planning on targeting the residential market.  I live in a town
> of 40,000.  I would only be charging $5/month for a basic service box.
> It seems to me that it would be fairly easy to add 100+ customers/year
to
> my service, but I would like the opinion of someone "in the business."
> Please E-mail any responses.

Hi Brian:

We operate a full service voice/fax service bureau here in Calgary,
about 750,000 pop.  We've been at it about 2.5 years, focusing almost
exclusively in business and corporate clients.

Firstly: it's not as easy as it sounds, particularly getting clients.
Now, before we get into details, let's just take the assumptions
you've made and see how they work out.

You're looking at getting 100 clients per year, on average (a herculean
task, considering the population of 40,000).  Nevertheless:

   Let's say you have 100 at the end of the 1st year.

   Your revenue at that point will be $5 x 100 per month, gross =
$500/month.

   In order to service 100 clients you are going to require at least 4-6
   incoming lines for your system.  The cost will depend on the type you
   use, however it would likely be in the range of $30-50 per line.  $40
   per line is probably likely. This will cost $200 per month.

   That leaves $300 per month.  Now out of that, you've got to do
   some advertising, feed yourself (lotta macaroni, looks like)..
   AND ... somehow pay for the system you are using!

A decent interactive system that can do most of the stuff required of
a service bureau is going to be a minimum of $15-20,000.  The
companies that claim they can sell you one for a few thousands are
bullshitting.  In interactive, you really do get what you pay for.
(Hardware for a decent system four line system is a minimum $5000 to
start with, assuming you do it properly with UPS, remote power reboot,
etc).

> My major competition would be our local telephone company who charges
> $6.5/month.  My question is this: Would there be enough interest in
> voice-mail from residential clients to keep my business profitable?

We have somewhat the same problem here with our telco offering cheap
voice mail.  But that's the key -- it's cheap.  There's no fancy
options, it can't do anything like fax or interactive surveying, they
can't do database lookup ... etc. In other words, they can have the
business at the low end (simple voice boxes). THE ONLY PLACE YOU CAN
MAKE MONEY IS OFFERING CUSTOM SERVICES like fax on demand, call
transferring, database lookup, etc.  To do that, you'll need a good
system.

I hate to sound negative, but that's the reality.  If you're really
not prepared to invest at least $25,000 in the business, don't bother.
Plus, I think your pop'n is really going to work against you.

On the positive side, growth of voice mail and related services is
certainly staggering ... it's at least a good thing to keep your eye on.
But don't get into residential service.  There's no money in it.


[e-mail]      Greg Habstritt
Intellitech Communications Inc.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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



TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Karl <[e-mail]>:

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Why don't you try a combination of PC
> and voicemail you build yourself, possibly using Big Mouth or
something
> similar?  Have a PC answer your second line with a message that goes
> something like this: "Thank you for calling; right now all agents are

> If you combine the Big Mouth transfer function with Call Transfer from
> your local telco, then once the waiting call has been passed over to
you
> on the first line, Big Mouthh is freed up to take another call on
> the overflow line and hold it until you become available.     PAT]

I have a customer who wants exactly this.  He has an AT&T four line
Merlin phone system (known as a '410') in place.  My questions are:

1) How would such a system 'sound' to the caller?  Would it sound
like it's a patched together kluged system?

2) Can the Big Mouth be interfaced with the Merlin phone system?

2) Is it difficult for the user (receptionist type) to use?

3) Can you provide some cost ranges (rounded dollars will suffice<g>)?

4) Related to 3, would he be better off (money and practicality) to
either upgrade the existing phone system or replace it with another
phone system which already has all of his hot buttons built in?


TIA

gary valmain


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, I don't think Big Mouth sounds bad
at all considering its relatively inexpensive cost. I think you can buy
a one line system in the range of $300-400. That's assuming you already
have the computer and phone lines.

I put together a small system for use in a small town bus station (a
Greyhound Agency in fact) which was reviewed in the 'new products'
section
of {Bus Ride Magazine} a couple months ago. The application I built this
for is typical.  You have a ticket clerk, two phone lines which ring off
the hook with calls from local residents wanting to know the schedule of
busses, the cost of tickets, etc, and everything happening at once. The
clerk not only has to write the tickets and answer all the phone
inquiries,
but he has to go out to load/unload the baggage and freight from the
busses. Greyhound sends ten busses per day through that town (five each
direction), and he also gets four Trailways busses each day (two each
direct-
ion); he writes tickets for those also. It is a hot little agency; both
Greyhound and whatever Trailways company it is pay him a commission on
ticket sales in return for providing 'bus station services' and his
income
in the summer is good; in the winter it is sufficient.

The main problem he had/has is that there are times the place is dead.
Nothing going on ... but once a day the schedules are such he gets two

╖_


busses in his driveway at once, both to be (un)loaded, two or three
passengers the bus driver picked up at a flag stop twenty miles out of
town who need tickets written in a hurry so they can get back on the bus
and the driver can be on his way, and then both phone lines ring at once
with relatively complicated questions on schedules to some far away
place.
He had been letting the phones ring unanswered during that ten or
fifteen
minute period. As good as his business can be at times, he cannot afford
to have two people on duty at once. Some family member of his comes in
and takes care of things in the evening and on weekends; even that cuts
deeply into his profits since he has to pay them something. Sometimes he
was taking the phones off the hook for a few minutes when he got a line
of people at the counter.

I put together a Big Mouth for him on an old 286 to answer his second
line whenever it does not get answered after three or four rings. If he
is taking a call on the first line another call will roll to the second
line. The Big Mouth answers, "You have reached the <town name> bus
station.
The agent is busy now on another call, or working with a customer. Your
call will be answered as soon as possible, but in the meantime while you
are waiting, you may listen to some recorded messages which may answer
your questions entirely. At any time you can choose to be transferred to
the agent if you wish by pressing zero on your touch tone phone."

There then follows a menu of choices; what he calls his half-dozen most
frequently asked questions; (1) schedule of busses going north to the
big city where his passengers connect; (2) southbound schedule; (3)
ticket
prices for the half dozen most often purchased tickets; (4) hours the
station is open and its address; (5) package express freight services;
(6) other schedule connections, etc.

The caller can leave a message to be called back by pressing a key with
the message going to a voicemail box, and pressing another key allows
purchase of 'tickets by phone with credit card'. It goes into an inter-
active dialogue with the caller, asking the caller his name, waiting for
a response; his credit card number, waiting for response; where tickets
are desired for, etc. A callback is promised as soon as possible.
Anytime
the person bails out of one of the recordings, or is at the main menu
and
presses zero, the speaker on the PC announces, 'call holding, please
pick
up'.  If he does not do so in thirty seconds or so, then Big Mouth takes
the call back and advises the caller the agent is still busy and to
please
leave a message in voicemail for a return call ASAP.

The neat part though is his after hours operation. By swapping out a
couple
files on the PC (done automatically by a cron job at a certain time of
night when the station closes, and again in the morning when it opens),
Big Mouth begins answering the first line instead, with a message saying
'station is closed, will be open <hours> to <hours> ... and offers to
play
the same menu of answers to 'most asked questions'. The menu concludes
with
'if you need to speak to an agent right away, press zero' ... and in
this
case the transfer is done with three way calling. Big Mouth flashes the
hook and outdials to the national Greyhound information line, a toll
free
800 number. The caller hears ringing and gets an answer from a phone
room
clerk at Omaha where Greyhound information is located.  Really, a very
sharp little setup if I do say so myself, and I do, since the money I
made on it allowed me to buy extra rations of macaroni for myself and a
few more boxes of Tender Vittles for the cats.  <g> .....  PAT]

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



In article <[e-mail]>, Carl Moore  <[e-mail]>
wrote:

> Is it a measure of how full the system is when messed-up digits
> result in someone else's valid number?

> Several years ago, this Digest had a note about a Chicago-area dress
> shop getting calls meant for an airline (two digits transposed in the
> telephone number).  I recall this appearing not long before 708 area
> code came along to provide relief for 312.

A friend of mine told this story. Years ago (1920s) when the phone
numbers in my home town were three digits long, his phone number was
slightly different from the number of the largest industry in town.
He was always getting calls intended for them. One day he got a call
from a salesman for a coal company who thought he was the factory's
buyer. So, he ordered what he figured would be a two year supply of
coal. He said he had a good laugh the day he saw a train of only coal
cars rolling down the spur to the factory.


Donald R. Newcomb
University of Southern Mississippi
[e-mail]     [e-mail]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Shame, shame, shame! That was fraud,
although it is kind of funny. If he had gotten caught, the judge should
have punished him by making him shovel all that coal by hand back into
the coal cars to be returned to the company.    PAT]

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



> Is it a measure of how full the system is when messed-up digits
> result in someone else's valid number?

Apparently the transposed digits turned out to be in a trunk number,
not a phone number.  This particular mistake also cost them the
ability to trace the correct phone number, according to the newspaper.

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



Other people here have reported that with fiber optic, things like
expensive and cumbersome party lines are no longer needed; this makes
for better service and lower cost.

Also, electronics allows exchanges to be unattended and service
remotely,
saving money.  The older SxS switches needed cleaning/adjustment from
time
to time.  Further, things like operator service can be offered remotely
from
a considerable distance.

If a company is still using SxS equipment (or even crossbar), I would
be cautious.  I've heard many horror stories from customers served by
old mechanical switches that became unreliable from poor maintenance.

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



In article <[e-mail]>, Jack Mott
<[e-mail].
gov> wrote:

> I recently learned U.S. West is in the process of selling off its
> rural telephone properties (I live in Idaho Falls, which will stay
> with US West).  Although I felt that the original break-up of the Bell
> System was unwise, it is natural to expect more fragmentation and
> specialization in the telecom industry.

> I would appreciate hearing about technical issues which are unique to
> phone companies serving sparsely populated areas.  I imagine that the
> smaller companies could become quite innovative in dealing with
> problems specific to their business.

The smaller companies are usually quite innovative in:

Extracting large quantities of money from users of leased lines.  We
have one such here in Iowa that charges over $300/mo. for a 56K line
*across town* (less than a mile).  Talk about rip-off artists ...


Paul Lustgraaf            "It's easier to apologize than to get
permission."
Network Specialist                                     Grace Hopper
Iowa State University Computation Center  [e-mail]
Ames, IA  50011   515-294-0324

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



Hey,

   I'm a little fuzzy in this area, but I'm pretty sure resale is
required by the Communications Act of 1934, and accordingly this is
enforced by the FCC.  I believe it has something to do with being a
Common Carrier and all.  I could look up the exact section in the Act
that contains the details if you like.

   I'm on Bob Keller's mailing list and from what I've gathered from
various infractions over the last year or so, the fine for a carrier
refusing to resell is a maximum of $100,000.  The plaintiffs follow
the FCC's usual complaint filing process.

   About the only benefit for the carrier doing the reselling is that
they make a little extra money on bandwidth that would otherwise be
unused.  One downside, as has been seen this week with AT&T filing a
suit against a reseller, is the issue of representation.  See the
included article for details:

  *** AT&T has filed a complaint with federal regulators accusing a
  long-distance reseller of "slamming" -- the practice of changing a
  customer's long-distance carrier without the customer's
  authorization.  AT&T's complaint alleges that National Accounts,
  Inc., of Parsippany, N.J., misrepresented an affiliation with
  AT&T, and has switched customers from AT&T to National Accounts
  without the customers' knowledge or agreement.  AT&T's complaint
  to the FCC describes how National Accounts representatives falsely
  told customers that National Accounts is affiliated with AT&T, or
  that National Accounts "markets and administers" AT&T service.  In
  some instances National Accounts claimed it was "employed by
  AT&T."  Where National Accounts' misrepresentations were
  unsuccessful in inducing AT&T's customers to switch their service
  to National Accounts, the reseller would frequently "slam" those
  customers, AT&T said.  Under authority of the Communications Act
  of 1934, AT&T has asked the FCC to stop National Accounts from
  continuing these practices, and to award AT&T damages to be
  determined by the commission.

As you can see, the relationship between resellers and the larger
carriers is somewhat strained.  It should be interesting to see how
resale in the local market pans out.  I know AT&T is doing that with
Ameritech and Frontier at the current time.


Rick Dennis     AT&T Global Business Communications Systems
Conversant(Intuity) Systems      Suite 600
email: attmail!rickdennis        5555 Oakbrook Parkway
Phone: [phone]            Norcross, GA 30093

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

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #233
******************************