Hacker Chronicles 2 (Alt)/The_Hacker_Chronicles_Volume_II-CD2.iso/td/td13_750.txt

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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 9 Nov 93 11:05:00 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 750

Inside This Issue:                       Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS? (Karim Alim)
    IBM's Simon Revealed (Personal Communicator) ([e-mail])
    DECtransporter and Mobitex (Lawrence A. Cardani)
    Wiring a New Town? (Larry Walker)
    Those Sprint FaxModems (Mark Earle)
    East-West or North-South? (Carl Moore)
    Novell Networking Question (Tony Simkus)
    What is Transpac? (Philip Green)
    Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet (Lars Poulsen)
    Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet (Chris Labatt-Simon)
    Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet (John R. Levine)
    Re: PC Pursuit no Longer Accepting New Users (Tony Pelliccio)
    Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..." (Bruce Howells)
    Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..." (Dave Strieter)
    Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..." (David A. Kaye)
    Re: New Area Code: 610 (Carl Moore)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 10:33 EST
From: Karim Alim <[e-mail]>
Subject: TDMA vs. CDMA = Betamax vs. VHS?


In Volume 13, Issue 749 of the Digest, Craig Ibbotson (ibbotson@rtsg.
mot.com) writes:

> Tell all those people buying TDMA mobiles that they are buying the "Beta
> VCRs of the 90's".  It seems difficult to educate the public in the TDMA
> vs CDMA battle....  (Please don't read this as an endorsement of TDMA or
> CDMA -- I have no first-hand experience with either digital air interface).

The November 1993 issue of *Wired* magazine has a terrific article on
the proposed global cellular phone systems (Motorola's Iridium and
others).  Anyone with half a brain will take what the article says
with a grain of salt, but it definitely makes Motorola look like the
Bad Guy, partly because of Iridium's use of TDMA.  The competing
global phone systems apparently all use CDMA, which is positioned as a
standard that allows competing systems to co-exist, in addition to
getting "10 to 20" times the calls in the same frequency spectrum.
TDMA, on the other hand, is positioned as an older, bandwidth-eating
technology that will only allow for one company (Motorola) to dominate
the market.  (boo hiss)

I personally suspect this is a bit of a religious debate, exactly like
Betamax vs. VHS, and while technical arguments pro and con can be
made, whoever has the best marketing is going to win.  (wink wink)

The article has very basic explanations of the differences between
TDMA and CDMA, as well as technical comparisons of the proposed
systems (number of satellites used, cost, orbit types and altitudes,
and estimated costs of the handsets and airtime).  It also gives some
insight into the political wrangling currently going on.  The writing
style is breezy and gossipy for a technical piece -- again, perhaps
not the most objective, but a pleasant change of pace from the usual
dry analysis.

Craig, I notice you work for Motorola ... maybe you SHOULD be
endorsing TDMA ...  (big grin)


k.
(usual disclaimers apply)  (I don't even WANT a cellular phone)

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

Subject: IBM's Simon Revealed (Personal Communicator)
From: [e-mail] (Herd Beast)
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 93 08:02:32 EST
Organization: [MindVox] / Phantom Access Technologies / (+1 800-MindVox)


The missing link revealed:  IBM's personal communicator.

Now, after the release of products by AT&T, Apple/Sharp, or
Tandy/Casio, Bellsouth presents IBM's answer in this field.

Simon, who is still awaiting FCC authorization, looks similar to a
cellular phone with a small, flat monitor.  Its length is about 20 cm
and it weighs close to 300 grams.  Simon includes fax, e-mail, a
beeper and more.  Unlike the other communicators, Simon is unique
because it's an IBM PC with a pen monitor; the Newton operates on a
British chip, the Zoomer on a Casio chip, and the Eo on AT&T's Hobbit.
Simon operates on an Intel '486SL, and will probably have the PowerPC
imbedded in it in the future.  It has 4 megabytes RAM and its OS of
choice will be DOS and a pen controlled version of Windows.

Simon is produced by IBM, Mitsubishi and Lotus (who will supply an
e-mail program).

Bellsouth Cellular is the sole distributor of Simon in the U.S.

During the next December, Simon will be available in four towns in
Florida.  By April, 1994, it will be available in the entire U.S.

The price?  "Less than $1000".  999.95, I'll bet.

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

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 05:59:30 PST
From: Lawrence A. Cardani LKG1-2/F08 J7 <[e-mail]>
Subject: DECtransporter and Mobitex


Hello,

Digital Equipment Corporation has a product named DECtransporter which
has Mobitex and ARDIS wireless packet radio support.  V1 has been
shipping since June, 93.  We have been working very closely with RAM
Mobile Data and ARDIS.  DECtransporter allows most TCP/IP applications
written to NETBIOS or WINSOCKETS to work over Mobitex and ARDIS, some
without any changes at all!  DECtransporter performs all of the Mobitex
and ARDIS protocol handling so the applications do not have to.

For more information, please contact the DECtransporter Product
Manager Celeste Hyer in the US at 508-486-5503.


Larry Cardani   DECtransporter Project leader

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

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 22:58:36 CST
From: [e-mail] (Larry Walker)
Subject: Wiring a New Town


This is a request for advice on how one should go about wiring a New
Town.  I am working with a group that is designing and building a
"neo-traditional neighborhood" from scratch. Neo-traditional refers to
the concept of designing real neighborhoods with retail, commercial
and office space, a school, a neighborhood center, etc. all
integrated. It is the exact opposite of the current style of urban
growth, with isolated subdivisions here, office complexes there, and a
shopping mall somewhere else entirely.

The site is 150 acres on the edge of Madison, Wisconsin (pop ~200,000),
which is the state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin.
The neighborhood will include 500-700 dwellings, from 1/2 acre
single-family dwellings to 1/6 acre small houses to townhouses to a
16-unit co-op housing group. A school, a community center and a "main
street" retail/office complex are also planned.

The issue is to help the urban planner define what "electronic
infrastructure" to specify. The area is served by TCI Cable and by
Mid-Plains Telephone. TCI has announced plans to begin stringing fiber
in '94 (but only fiber-to-the-curb, as far as I can tell). Mid-Plains
says they do not expect to have ISDN or Switched-56 service within the
next two or three years, although they think they might be able to
offer ISDN by foreign exchange connection to Wisconsin Bell (oops:
Ameritech, as of last month ...).

The planner knows only that he's heard he needs 4" PVC conduit on the
streets and 2" PVC conduit to the house in order to accomodate fiber.
I am looking for suggestions as to what other technical issues he
should try to build into the plan. He has a much broader control over
requirements than is typical: If it makes sense and doesn't drive
costs up too much, he is anxious to design it in from the start, both
in the infrasructure design and in the building code.

A couple of starting points:

1) Require that all inside phone wiring be twisted pair. Q: How many
pair minimum? (Remember that this minimum would be be imposed on all
residents, not just the techno-freaks with multiple modems and fax).

2) On another project, he has gotten what he feels are very
competitive prices on pre-wiring all units with cable (like $150 per
house, before drywall goes on). Q: Does this make sense / is this
sufficient, with fiber-to-the-curb pending? Q: How many / which rooms
get cable? (Again, this would be a mandate for all units).

What would you like to see the urban planner and the architects
provide in your neighborhood, if you planned to move into this "clean
slate" community?

Thanks in advance,


Larry Walker

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

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 20:02:58 CST
From: [e-mail] (Mark Earle)
Subject: Those Sprint FaxModems


Well, I received mine today, complete with the aforementioned note
about delays due to recent problems in California.

All works as expected, except:

  The V.42 and MNP 2-4 are in _software_ when using the provided Quick
Link ][ fax/data software. It does work -- my usual "pick up phone
while connected" test caused no problems to my session.

Using the modem with a "standard" program such as Procomm gets you a
plane jane 2400 modem.

The fax side of the software is great. Minimum hassles, you can run
things from the dos prompt; don't have tedious driver hassles, etc.
Printing to fax is supported from dos aps that can print to a laserjet
series ][. Works well. The windows side of the software is fine.

Overall, I'm happy, especially at the price: 0.00, plus $50.00 worth
of LD 'rebate' checks over the next five months' bills.

The fax software is a great improvement over a package of the same
name but 1.5 years old that came with a different modem we have at the
office.

Oh, speed of data: Despite having mnp and v42, you can't select higher
than 2400 as the modem to computer speed. If you select 9600, you can
talk to the modem, but it connects to the host at 300. This may be
some obscure option, but it's definately not mentioned anywhere. So,
with the port at 2400, you'll not get more than 230 or so cps on file
transfers. Also, the supported protocols are xmodem, ymodem/ymodemG
and Kermit. No zmodem. Oh well.

My main interest was / is using it as a cheap substitute for a fax
machine; it appears that those needs will be served fine by this
product.

The above 2400 /230 cps problem may be solvable with a call to the
support; we'll see.

I'm extremely happy that my 286/12 which otherwise is pretty useless
can serve as my fax box.


Mark Earle  [e-mail]

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

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 17:54:22 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: East-West or North-South?


Just a tiny spinoff from a comment about the Pacific Coast Highway at
Malibu: It was said in the Digest that it runs east-west.  If it says
north-south in news reports, that is probably because the signs
reflect the bigger scheme of things in that it's part of California
route 1 or U.S. 101, each a north-south route.  But in the Malibu
area, PCH physically runs east-west due to local conditions.

There are other cases where a compass direction associated with a
route number is quite different from the actual direction the road is
pointed in right there.  To name a few:

1. a brief stretch of road in Chester County, Pa. has U.S. 1 south and
   Pa. 52 north.

2. a brief stretch of expressway in southwestern Virginia has I-81 south
   and I-77 north.

3. I-95 and U.S. 40 run parallel through northeastern Maryland, but the
   signs for the former say north-south and for the latter, east-west.

4. At least part of U.S. 1 in Connecticut has signs saying EAST and WEST.

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

From: [e-mail] (Tony Simkus)
Subject: Novell Networking Question
Date: 08 Nov 1993 17:28:08 GMT
Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA


Does anyone know the anser to this question? If I have two NOVELL
networks, two separate file server serving each network, what should I
do if one network goes down? Can I use the other file server to
service the other network? If so, what addressing information and
software must I use to approach this problem.  I am looking for a
networking scheme that will that will still be usable if one server
goes down. The workstations on the server that go down must know where
to access the new programs.

Your help is appreciated.


MNS

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

From: [e-mail] (Philip Green)
Subject: What is Transpac?
Date: 9 Nov 93 10:38:35 GMT
Organization: University of the Witwatersrand


Can anyone tell me what Transpac is? A public network in France
perhaps?  Thanks.


Philip Green  (MSc student)          [e-mail]
Department of Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand
2050 Wits, South Africa

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

From: [e-mail] (Lars Poulsen)
Subject: Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet
Organization: CMC Network Products, Copenhagen DENMARK
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 10:08:16 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dale
Williams) writes:

> Most foreign countries 'home' or 'hub' to the US internet.
> Traffic from Scandinavia to Germany goes via the US, for example.)

This is not exactly true. (Though it may be true for traffic between
PPT-sponsored X.25 networks.)

Internet access in Europe is mostly separated in "Educational" access
paid for by government/university funds, and "Commercial" access which
is entirely paid for by the users. For various political and economic
reasons which I cannot understand, the commercial providers cannot use
the two megabit links used to interconnect the educational networks, but
have rented their own (64 kilobit) lines between providers. Thus,
traffic from me (a commercial DKNET customer) to UNI-C in Lyngby (the
academic computer center operating the educational DENET network)
travels to Amsterdam before crossing into the EBONE backbone network,
and then to Stockholm before coming back to Denmark.


Lars Poulsen     Internet E-mail: [e-mail]
CMC Network Products    Phone: (011-) [phone]
Hvidovre Strandvej 72 B    Telefax:      [phone]
DK-2650 Hvidovre, DENMARK  Internets: designed and built while you wait

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

From: [e-mail] (Chris Labatt-Simon)
Subject: Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet
Date: 9 Nov 1993 15:02:56 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA


[e-mail] (Lars Poulsen) writes:

> The Internet is widely privatized, but a major part of it is located
> in the USA. The Federal Networking Council reserves the right to
> determine which networks can be reached from the USA. For instance,
> nodes in the former Soviet Union cannot be reached from the USA and
> vice versa, because neither the NSFnet backbone nor the CIX carries
> their routes.  (Just try "traceroute kremvax.demos.su" from within the
> US versus from any site in Europe.)

I just tried the traceroute, and: traceroute to kremvax.demos.su
(192.91.186.200), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets

 1  vccfr2 (128.113.75.254)  2 ms  2 ms  2 ms
 2  psi1.rpi.edu (128.113.100.1)  27 ms  3 ms  3 ms
 3  rpi.albany.pop.psi.net (38.145.34.1)  53 ms  9 ms  13 ms
 4  core.net223.psi.net (38.1.2.6)  51 ms  66 ms  77 ms
 5  Washington.DC.ALTER.NET (192.41.177.248)  172 ms  48 ms  30 ms
 6  New-York.NY.ALTER.NET (137.39.128.2)  92 ms  420 ms  413 ms
 7  Demos-gw.ALTER.NET (137.39.96.2)  707 ms  656 ms 733 ms  679 ms
 8  kremvax.demos.su (192.91.186.200)  709 ms  733 ms  679 ms

Seems like it made it to me ...


Chris Labatt-Simon    Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting
[e-mail]    [phone] Tel    [phone] Fax

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

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 23:46 EST
From: [e-mail] (John R Levine)
Subject: Re: Sri Lanka is Joining the Internet
Organization: I.E.C.C.


>> Does anyone have any idea why it was necessary or even meaningful for
>> Gore or anyone representing the U.S. Government to sign or even be a
>> part of Sri Lanka's joining the Internet?

> The Federal Networking Council reserves the right to determine which networks
> can be reached from the USA. For instance, nodes in the former Soviet Union
> cannot be reached from the USA and vice versa, because neither the NSFnet
> backbone nor the CIX carries their routes.  (Just try "traceroute
> kremvax.demos.su" from within the US versus from any site in Europe.)

Uh, when I try "traceroute kremvax.demos.su" from my site here in
Massachusetts, I get a route via Alternet to kremvax.  (My connection
to the backbone is via Sprint.)  Ping, telnet, etc. to kremvax all
work just fine.

I'd expect that the US Government is arranging some sort of subsidized
link from Sri Lanka to NSFnet, hence Gore's photo-op.


Regards,

John Levine, [e-mail], {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl

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

From: [e-mail] (Tony Pelliccio)
Subject: Re: PC Pursuit no Longer Accepting New Users
Date: 9 Nov 1993 15:57:14 GMT
Organization: Brown University Alumni & Development Office


In article <[e-mail]>, Goemon <[e-mail].
ohio-state.edu> wrote:

> I called PC Pursuit's information line (1-800-736-1130) and although
> it was past their business hours, there was a recorded message. It
> stated that PC Pursuit is NO LONGER ACCEPTING NEW USERS, effective
> November 1.

> What is the thinking behind that? Aren't they in this to try to MAKE
> money? I would think they would want as many subscribers as possible
> to make it cost effective. Or is this another typical Sprint anal
> retentive move?

Nope ... I have a feeling it's due to lack of bandwidth. They don't
have the facilities to switch anymore packets than the already do.
Don't forget that PC Pursuit is simply an extension of SprintNet (aka
Telenet for those of us who've been around longer than Sprint!) and
from what I've seen of dealing with SprintNet it's fairly bogged down
with old equipment right now.


Tony Pelliccio, KD1NR     [e-mail]
Brown University Alumni & Development Computing Services
Box 1908   Providence, RI 02912   [phone]


[Moderator's Note: There is an interesting history behind the whole thing.
Prior to about 1984 when PC Pursuit began operation, Telenet had their
data network going, which dates from sometime in the 1970's. Like the
phone network, it was busy all day and almost deserted all night. Telenet
started PC Pursuit as a way to make use of all the facilities sitting
idle all night long. I was one of the first half-dozen or so users to
sign up for PC Pursuit when it started operation back then. They used
a clumsy, rather tedious call-back system where you dialed in, entered
your (authorized) call-back number, disconnected and waited for their
return call to put you on the network. There were about five cities we
could call in the beginning, at 300/1200 baud only. PC Pursuit was
greatly improved upon as the years went by. For many years they even
offered *unlimited* access between 6 PM and 7 AM for $25 per month. It
was such a good deal they eventually had to put limits on the amount
of time people could use the service each month without extra payment.
I would not be surprised if they are now swamped beyond their capacity
to handle the traffic. PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bruce Howells)
Subject: Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..."
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1993 16:23:16 GMT
Organization: BGS Systems, Waltham MA


In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Elana
Beach) writes:

> I want to somehow have the simple option of an answering machine that
> will allow me to say something like: "Press 1 for the latest news on
> Chris Franke's limited CD release".  That way, anyone who wants to
> hear that stuff would have the option, and others can just ignore it
> and leave a message like usual.  That way, my phone line can double as
> a news hotline.  Does any answering machine exist like this?  What
> other features would it have?

Many AT&T answerers will do exactly this; if you press * during the
OGM, you skip right to the beep.  I've seen them used for things like
musical competitions:

"You have reached xxx-xxxx.  Press * to leave a message, or listen for the
finalists of the competition ..."

Coupled with a nice long OGM tape, this is probably a good solution to
your problem.


Bruce Howells,  [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dave Strieter)
Subject: Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..."
Date: 9 Nov 1993 10:17:05 GMT


In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Elana Beach)
writes:

> I want to somehow have the simple option of an answering machine that
> will allow me to say something like: "Press 1 for the latest news on
> Chris Franke's limited CD release".     ...
>    ...           Does any answering machine exist like this?

There are several Duo-Phone models from Radio Shack that will do this.
The feature is called "Voice Mail".

How it works is that you record the regular outgoing message and a
second "confidential" outgoing message.  The second message is
accessed using a three-digit code preceded by an asterisk, the intent
being that you can give the code to people you want to leave a special
message for.  Certainly if you give the secret code in the standard
outgoing message, then you get the feature you want ("Press *123 for
info on ...").  The drawback is that on at least one model the remote
code for configuring the answering machine is forced to be one less
than the voice mail code, so you'd be making it easy for some nasty
person to figure out how to screw up your machine, change your
message, etc.

I believe that the Phonemate 8800 also has a similar feature, but I
don't know how it works.


Dave Strieter  ( [e-mail] )
====== These are not my employer's positions...just my ramblings. ======
AG Communication Systems   Phoenix AZ 85072-2179, USA    [phone]

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

From: [e-mail] (David A. Kaye)
Subject: Re: "Press (__) to Hear Special Message ..."
Date: 8 Nov 1993 22:10:04 -0800
Organization: CRL Dialup Internet Access  [phone]  [login: guest]


Elana Beach ([e-mail]) wrote:

> I want to somehow have the simple option of an answering machine that
> will allow me to say something like: "Press 1 for the latest news on
> Chris Franke's limited CD release".  That way, anyone who wants to

This isn't the answer you want, but it's cheaper to hire a voicemail
company which has menu capabilities at maybe $20 a month than to go
through the hassle of voicemail cards or DTMF detect circuitry for
that kind of use.  Then, get a little Radio Shack phone/recorder
connection and play the audio into the phone line through it.  Works
ok.

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

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 93 10:10:47 EST
From: Carl Moore <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: New Area Code: 610


What do you mean, "around Philadelphia"?  The Digest has already heard
from me about maps of 215/610 which have started appearing in Bell of
Pennsylvania directories.  Philadelphia, along with about 4/5 of Bucks
County and about 1/2 of Montgomery County, stays in 215.  But if you
go, say, across City Line Avenue into Bala-Cynwyd or down the
Industrial Highway into Lester and Essington, you'd be in the new 610
area.  Bell of Pa. directories have been listing 215-area prefixes in
three categories: Phila., suburban Phila., and other places in 215;
each of the latter two categories would be split between 215 and 610.

I already had a note in the "history" file that Jan. 1995 was full
cutover for 610, and I have added "7" to that entry for next archive
version.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #750
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