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- TELECOM Digest Wed, 19 Jan 94 08:22:00 CST Volume 14 : Issue 40
-
- Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
-
- Earthquake Telecom Outages (John Coe)
- Earthquake and 818 AC (Chris Labatt-Simon)
- Question on Trunks and T1's (PacBell) (Ken Stone)
- Connecting to Remote Serial Port Over WAN (Steve Pinkston)
- How Long Will Cell Sites in LA Run Without Standard Power? (David Kiviat)
- Real Time Audio Compression (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
- Invitation to Participate in ICSI94 (Walace Sartori Bonfim)
- Wireless PBX Information Wanted (Kevin Tanner)
- Pac*Bell Permanent Virtual Connection Service Tariff (Robert L. McMillin)
- Pay Phone Inband and Out of Band Signalling (Alex Jeannopoulos)
- Internet ISDN Connection (ossandon@delphi.com)
- Itemized Phone Bills in the USA (Pawel Dobrowolski)
- Using Radio For T1 Links (Jim Mercer)
- Value of Service Pricing (Fred Goldstein)
- How Cold is Co-o-o-old? (Christian Weisgerber)
-
- TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
- exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere
- there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of
- public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie.
- Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations
- and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify:
-
- * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu *
-
- The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates of
- Skokie, Illinois USA. We provide telecom consultation services and
- long distance resale services including calling cards and 800 numbers.
- To reach us: Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or by phone
- at 708-329-0571 and fax at 708-329-0572. Email: ptownson@townson.com.
-
- ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu **
-
- Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using
- anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email
- information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to
- use the information service, just ask.
-
- TELECOM Digest is gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
- newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom. It has no connection with the unmoderated
- Usenet newsgroup comp.dcom.telecom.tech whose mailing list "Telecom-Tech
- Digest" shares archives resources at lcs.mit.edu for the convenience
- of users. Please *DO NOT* cross post articles between the groups. All
- opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any
- organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages
- should not be considered any official expression by the organization.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- From: coej@jmbpo4.bah.com (John Coe)
- Subject: Earthquake Telecom Outages
- Date: 18 Jan 1994 20:01:43 GMT
- Organization: Booz, Allen, and Hamilton
-
-
- Has anyone come across any preliminary official reports on telecom
- outages due to the LA earthquake? In particular, I'm interested in
- reports of facility damage and traffic overloads.
-
-
- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Someone at GTE (I won't say who, but
- it is *not* Steven Lichter, and I stress that point to certain GTE
- executives!) is sending me reports from GTE telling about their prob-
- lems. Just a few of their problems include:
-
- The Granada Hills Directory Assistance Office Building partially
- collapsed. Personnel were evacuated and DA functions moved elsewhere.
-
- At Santa Monica Toll a ruptured fuel tank has left the office with
- fuel all over the floor and everywhere else. On Tuesday they were
- waiting for Fire Department clearance to get in and begin a cleanup
- and restoration of normal functions there.
-
- Paccoima CO has major damage to the building. Emergency personnel
- evactuated the building and employees are now being let back in as
- needed to do what they can to restore service.
-
- San Fernando has a large crack in the power room wall and the
- building foundation is badly compromised.
-
- The Santa Monica 1AESSS has a leaking fuel supply, and the Sunset
- office in Santa Monica has broken water pipes.
-
- Bel Air, Camarillo and Ellwood CO in Santa Barbara have no commercial
- power and are running on generators. In Granada Hills, there was some
- damage to the switch resulting in blown power supplies and about half
- the switch had no dial tone on Monday and Tuesday.
-
- Pacoima #2 EAX is totally out of service. An emergency trailer has
- been set up to serve 11,364 customers. In that same office, the gen-
- erator was knocked off its foundation and has been damaged severely.
- They intend to cut lines to GTD-5 if #2 cannot be restored.
-
- The above are just a few of the problems, and apparently among the
- worst, although I may have overlooked some in the lengthy fax which
- was sent to my attention Tuesday. Even the offices not severely damaged
- are operating under considerable strain since nearly every office had
- at least some minor damage and disruption of service or record-keeping
- systems, etc. GTE is attempting to serve the public under extreme
- emergency conditions while trying to resolve their own internal
- emergencies as well.
-
- Coin Telephone Trailers have been set up in several of the hardest
- hit areas. AT&T officials have met with GTE executives and offered
- their full assistance with restoration efforts. PAT]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: pribik@rpi.edu (Chris Labatt-Simon)
- Subject: Earthquake and 818 AC
- Date: 18 Jan 1994 17:07:59 GMT
- Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY, USA
-
-
- Yesterday I learned of the earthquake because of my calling a tech
- support department in the 818 area code. I received a message back
- saying "We're sorry, your call cannot be completed at this time due to
- the earthquake in the area".
-
- This morning around 9:30 (EST) I called again, and got the same
- message. I then tried the 800 number and got through.
-
- When I just tried the 818 number again, at about 11:30 EST, I got the
- message that all circuits are busy. Guess they're starting to let
- calls through again.
-
- Of course I won't try to dial again for another couple of days, so
- I don't tie up the phone lines unecessarily.
-
- On another note, I just wanted to mention how great technology is.
- I've been following the earthquake info on the Internet Relay Chat and
- on CompuServe. The compassion that I'm finding in both of these
- places is great to see. Many people are e-mailing from both in CA and
- out of CA getting in touch with relatives and friends for people over
- the phone.
-
-
- Chris Labatt-Simon Internet: pribik@rpi.edu
- Design & Disaster Recovery Consulting CIS: 73542,2601
- Albany, New York
- PHONE: (518) 495-5474 FAX: (518) 786-6539
- Subscribe to the Lotus Notes Mailing List - e-mail me for info....
-
-
- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My GTE contact had this to say regards
- choking of inbound traffic: AT&T has cancelled 87 percent of the traffic
- into their Sherman Oaks, Gardena, Oxnard and and Los Angeles (92T)
- tandems. They have cancelled 50 percent percent of the traffic into
- the San Bernardino tandem and *all* of the traffic into the Los Angeles
- 03T tandem. MCI and Sprint have both cancelled 75 percent of their
- traffic into Santa Monica and Thousand Oaks. PAT]
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Question on Trunks and T1's (PacBell)
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 11:20:46 -0800
- From: Ken Stone <ken@sdd.hp.com>
-
-
- I'm interested in going thru a process to consolidate copper trunks to
- digital ones and then consolidating T1's into a PacBell onsite fiber
- terminal (ie let them demarc T1's for me at the T1 side of their mux
- in our phone room).
-
- What I need to know is if there is if there is any obligation for
- PacBell to provide us with T1's via a fiber terminal/mux and if so,
- where is the breakover point in T1's when this becomes the better
- solution ?
-
- Also, with respect to the copper trunks, is there any type of service
- that I can't bring in via T1 ? Right now we have seperate groups of
- trunks for FX, outgoing, DID, WATS, etc ...
-
-
- Thanks,
-
- Ken Stone (HP, San Diego)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: pinkston@kentrox.com (Steve Pinkston)
- Subject: Connecting to Remote Serial Port Over WAN
- Organization: Kentrox Industries, Inc.
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 23:36:03 GMT
-
-
- I hope someone can help me with this. This is a modified version of an
- earlier post, with some additional definition. Thanks to the people
- who have responded so far. I will summarize and post the responses at
- a later date.
-
- I'm looking for a way to be able able to communicate with a specific
- serial port on a remote device, so that I can connect to a
- non-ip-addressable device that is connected to that port.
-
- To be more specific: I have two LANs that are interconnected via
- bridges and T1/FT1 WAN links. I have a PC on the remote LAN that has
- an unused serial port ("COM2"). I want to be able to use that port as
- a terminal server port so that I can connect to the (9600 bps async)
- console port of a non-ip -OR- SLIP device located near that PC, in
- this example a smart CSU. In effect we would be making the remote PC a
- small terminal server.
-
- It has been suggested to me that there may be software solutions
- to this. Windows or DOS solutions would be satisfactory.
-
- Any help or pointers to resources would be greatly appreciated.
-
-
- Steve Pinkston Technical Support Specialist
- ADC Kentrox Portland, OR, USA pinkston@kentrox.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: davidk@netcom.com (David Kiviat)
- Subject: How Long Will Cell Sites in LA Run Without Standard Power?
- Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
- Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 04:46:47 GMT
-
-
- My impression of several cell sites after poking around the outsides
- is that they are battery powered with an external connector for
- portable generators (not kept on site). I am curious as to how long
- they will continue to function if the operator is unable to connect a
- generator. What is the plan on charging these things-can the system
- operator just charge them in an hour or so and then tow the generator
- to another site or does it take longer? What will happen to the system
- if lots of these lose power? How many generators do operators
- generally keep on standby?
-
- There are going to be lots of frustrated reporters in LA if the cell
- system collapses.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: alfredo@quickt2.it12.bull.it (Alfredo E. Cotroneo)
- Subject: Real Time Audio Compression
- Date: 19 Jan 1994 04:28:50 -0600
- Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
-
-
- I am just wondering if there is any device/algorithm which may
- compress audio in real time, and let say use e.g. 4 kHz bandwidth for
- an original audio bandwidth of 8 kHz, or likewise for higher
- bandwidth?
-
- To my knowledge there are such devices which compress audio signals
- and then transmitt it in digital form over a digital (radio, satellite
- or cable) link, but I never heard if that could be done over an audio
- channel itself.
-
- Any pointer on both digital and compressed-audio links will be greatly
- appreciated. Thanks.
-
-
- Alfredo E. Cotroneo, Bull HN Italia, I-20010 Pregnana MI, Italy
- work: A.Cotroneo@it12.bull.it
- personal: 100020.1013@compuserve.com
- phone: +39-2-6779 8314 / 8427 | fax: +39-2-6779 8289
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 14:12:21 -0300
- From: walace@ntiaa.embrapa.ansp.br (Walace Sartori Bonfim)
- Subject: Invitation to Participate in ICSI94
-
-
- Dear reader,
-
- Due to the wide spectrum of people that might be interested in the
- subjects to be discussed during the III International Conference on
- Systems Integration, we decided to post this call for papers in your
- mailing list.
-
- We encourage you to participate in this event as a paper author.
-
- The paper arrival deadline is March 3, 1994.
-
- Please forward this message to whoever you think it might be of
- interest and we appreciate your effort to post it.
-
-
- Thanks,
-
- Prof. Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
- Conference Chairman
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
- Call for Papers
-
- The Third International Conference for Systems Integration
- Sao Paulo City - Brazil
-
- July 30th - August 6th, 1994
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
-
- The Integration of Society for the Social, Economical, Scientific and
- Technological Development. This conference focuses on the integration
- of technologies, processes and systems, and the development of
- mechanisms and tools enabling solutions to complex multi-disciplinary
- problems dealing with agriculture, housing, telecommunications,
- financing and business, public services, education and software. The
- conference will provide an international and interdisciplinary forum
- in which researchers, educators, managers, practitioners and
- politicians, involved within the production process, can share novel
- research and development, education, production, trading, management
- and political experiences. Papers should deal with recent effort in
- theory, design, implementation, methodology, technics, tools and
- experiences of integration. Topics to be addressed include, but are
- not limited to:
-
- Technical and Scientific Aspects:
- - Integration, Modeling, Characterization and Automation of Process
- and Systems
- - Reengineering and Simplification of Processes
- - Computational Environments and Software Factories for Engineerind,
- Design, Manufacturing and System Development
- - Rol of Human Engineering in Integration
- - Experiences within National or Continental Software Projects
- - The Implication of Systems Integration for Manpower Skills
- - Quality Control and Certification in Organizational and Process
- Integration.
-
- Social, Political and Economical Aspects:
- - Experiences in Modeling, Development, Evolution and Integration
- of Enterprises
- - Experiences in Management and Identification of Value-Add Chains
- within Agriculture, Housing, Telecommunications, Financing and
- Business, Public Services, Education and Software
- - Public Policies and City Management
- - Management of Multi-dimensional Integration.
-
- Infrastructure Aspects:
- - Qualified Information Resources
- - Education and Training
- - Science and Technology
- - Enterprise Development.
-
- Information and Instructions for Authors: All papers must be in
- English or Portuguese, typed in double spaced format, and may not
- exceed 6,000 words. Each submission should provide a cover page
- containing author(s), affiliation(s), complete address(es),
- identification of principal author, and telephone number. Also include
- SIX copies of complete text with a title and abstract. Notice of
- acceptance will be mailed to the principal author(s) by March 15,
- 1994. If accepted, the author(s) will prepare the final manuscript, in
- English, in time for inclusion in the conference proceedings and will
- present the paper at the conference; otherwise, the author(s) will
- incur a page charge. Authors of accepted papers must sign a copyright
- release form. The proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer
- Society Press.
-
- Send SIX copies of your paper(s) to:
-
- Prof. Peter A. Ng
- IIISis - USA Office - New Jersey Institute of Technology
- University Heights
- Newark, NJ 07102
- USA
-
- For Further Information, Contact:
-
- Prof. Peter A. Ng Prof. Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
- Fone:(1) (201) 596-3387 OR Phone:(55)(192) 41-4504
- Fax: (1)(201) 596-5777 Fax: (55)(192) 41-3098
- Email: ng_p@vienna.njit.edu Email: iiisis@ccvax.unicamp.br
-
-
- >>>>>>>>>> Paper Arrival Deadline: March 3rd, 1994 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
-
- CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
-
- Conference Chair Fuad Gattaz Sobrinho
- IIISis
- Program Chair Peter A. Ng
- NJIT
- Finance & Business Co-Chair Alcir A. Calliari
- Banco do Brasil
- Agriculture Co-Chair Ney B. Araujo
- ABAG
- European Co-Chair Herbert Weber
- University of Dortmund
- Pac!fic Co-Chair Fumihiko Kamijo
- IPA
- Middle East Co-Chair Asuman Dogac
- METU
- South America Co-Chair Julio C. S. P. Leite
- PUC/RJ
- North America Co-Chair Bruce Berra
- Syracuse University
- Tutorials Co-Chairs Oscar Ivan Palma Pacheco
- EMBRAPA
- Murat M. Tanik
- SMU
- Organization Co-Chairs Rita de Cassia A. Marchiore
- IIISis
- Carole Poth
- NJIT
- Steering Committee Chair Peter A. Ng
- NJIT
- Honorary Advisors Raymond T. Yeh
- C. V. Ramamoorthy
- Laurence C. Seifert
- Honorary Conference Chair Irma Rossetto Passoni
- Sc&Tech, Info. and Comm. Comission of
- Brazilian Congress.
-
- Sponsored by IIISis - International Institute for Systems Integration,
- BB - Banco do Brasil, TELEBRAS, FINEP, CNPq, FBB, with colaboration of
- NJIT, SUCESU, EMBRAPA, ABAG, ACM e IEEE Computer Society.
-
- Instituto Internacional de Integracao de Sistemas - IIISis - Brazil.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
- Subject: Wireless PBX Information Wanted
- Date: Wed, 19 Jan 94 00:18:35 PST
- Organization: WilTel
-
-
- Greetings all,
-
- Can anyone out there provide information on companies (names,
- addresses, telephone numbers, contacts, etc.) working on wireless PBX
- products? I'm certain that companies like AT&T, Northern Telecom,
- Ericsson, Rolm/Siemens, Fujitsu, and others have (or are working on)
- wireless PBX products, but I don't know who to contact. Any help
- would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
-
-
- Kevin D. Tanner WilTel, Inc.
- Telephone: (918) 588-5843
- FAX: (918) 588-5616
- E-mail: kevin_tanner@wiltel.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 94 16:33 PST
- From: rlm@helen.surfcty.com (Robert L. McMillin)
- Subject: Pac*Bell Permanent Virtual Connection Service Tariff
-
-
- I got hold of a copy of Pac*Bell's Permanent Virtual Connection
- tariff. These cover services that are essentially switched,
- high-speed data links to the nearest CO. Costs given are per end.
-
- For each access link at each location:
-
- speed monthly install
-
- ADN $50.05 $620
- T1 $162.59 $1324
-
- Note: PRICING IS FOR THE LOCAL LOOP ONLY SINCE FRAME RELAY
- PRICING IS MILEAGE INDEPENDENT. [RLM: Emphasis mine. What this
- means is that these data services are not, as full-up leased T1
- is, dependent on how far you are away from the CO.]
-
- Switched data services:
-
- speed monthly install
-
- 56 Kbps $75 $375
- 128 Kbps $150 $375
- 384 Kbps $400 $375
- 1.536 Mbps $500 $375
-
- For each end of the Permanent Virtual Connection:
-
- # of Data Link Monthly Rate per
- Connection Identifiers DLCI
-
- 1st $0
- 2nd through 6th $15
- 7th through 11th $10
- 12th through 250th $5
-
- Each PVC has one Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) on each end.
- For more than one access link from a single location, groupd DLCIs by
- link, then calculate the charges. There is no recurring charge.
-
- For each customer:
-
- If traffic detail is wanted, charge $15 per month and $50 for
- non-recurring.
-
- -------------
-
- To me, the most interesting thing is the notion of a 'virtual T1' that
- can go anywhere there's another virtual T1. I'm not sure how this is
- implemented; maybe someone from Pac*Bell would care to comment. In
- any event, the prices are really cheap compared to dedicated service.
-
-
- Robert L. McMillin | rlm@helen.surfcty.com | Netcom: rlm@netcom.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: jeannopo@panix.com (Alex Jeannopoulos)
- Subject: Pay Phone Inband and Out of Band Signalling
- Date: 18 Jan 1994 23:34:08 -0500
- Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
-
-
- I know the inband signalling tones which are used by pay phones. What
- I would like to know is about how the out of band signalling to the
- pay phone is done. I know that the pay phone will ground one of the
- lines when a real coin is placed in the phone. What I am curious about
- is which line (ring or tip) is grounded? Is the line grounded for the
- life of the call? Or is it grounded right after the phone signals coin
- insertion for a short period of time? How is coin acceptance or
- rejection handled on the two lines? Thanks for any info in advance.
-
- If anyone knows of the inner workings of Fortress Phones drop me a
- line.
-
-
- Thanks,
-
- Alex
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: OSSANDON@delphi.com
- Subject: Internet ISDN Connection
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 94 20:18:08 EST
- Organization: Delphi Internet
-
-
- Does anyone know how an ISDN user (56K/64K) can access Internet? Since
- 9.6 rates are still considered fast for single user is it too soon to
- consider ISDN connections?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: dobrowol@husc8.harvard.edu (Pawel Dobrowolski)
- Subject: Itemized Phone Bills in the USA
- Date: 18 Jan 1994 16:06:50 GMT
- Organization: Harvard University Science Center
-
-
- I am having trouble finding information on when and why itemized
- long-distance phone bills were introduced in the US. I'd also like to
- know the basics about the equipment that neeeds to be in place to
- produce itemized phone bills.
-
- If anyone knows of good sources I will summarize and post here
- when I've done my research.
-
-
- Thanks,
-
- Pawel
-
-
- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So far as I know, we have always had
- itemized long distance bills in the USA. I have seen *very old* copies
- of bills from Illinois Bell and its predecessor "Chicago Telephone
- Company" which had itemized calls. The oldest one I recall seeing (and
- have a microfilm copy of around here somewhere in my boxes of old
- historical artifacts) is dated 1910. This telephone bill from 1910 is
- on printed letterhead from Chicago Telephone Company; is written out
- in longhand in a very nice, very old-fashioned, very eloquent style
- and lists a call to Aurora, Illinois, some fifty miles away. You
- must remember that long before mechanical equipment was available to
- keep these records, the manual service operators wrote out all of
- their tickets by hand as they went along, call by call. PAT]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- From: jim@reptiles.org (Jim Mercer)
- Subject: Using Radio For T1 Links
- Organization: Reptilian Research, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 12:33:16 -0500
-
-
- I am currently implementing a WAN using radio links to do a T1 type
- data link (1.5-2.0 Mbits). It will probably use a NCR WaveLAN. Are
- there similar facilities for a telephony type T1?
-
- I'd like to link a couple NT SL-1 switches, and T1's from our carriers
- range from $970 to $1270 per month.
-
- The buildings are unobstructed line of sight. (Laser has been ruled
- out due to possible weather related interference).
-
- Microwave has been ruled out as the line of sight crosses City Hall's
- front lawn, and there would be an environmental impact study which
- would delay implementation.
-
- The Spread Spectrum stuff used by WaveLAN and others does not require
- a license (which microwave does).
-
- Follow-ups directed to email; I'll summarize.
-
-
- Jim Mercer Reptilian Research merce@iguana.reptiles.org +1 416 506-0654
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 00:03:18 -0500
- From: goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
- Subject: Value of Service Pricing
-
-
- All of this discussion about flat-rate local service, etc., brings up
- the issue of just how telephone company rates are set. The traditional
- method is "Value of Service" pricing. While it is largely viewed as
- obsolete, especially at the federal level, it still plays a major role
- in local phone rates.
-
- The most notable example of this is in the way local rates are set in
- a flat-rate state. The monthly rate is based on a rate band, which is
- based on the number of lines within your local calling scope. So
- Nowhere Falls, with 300 phones in its local calling area, pays
- $8/month while Major City pays $15/month. After all, it gets more
- value for its local bill; Nowhere Falls customers pay lots more tolls.
- But the actual cost of monthly service is higher in the boonies,
- because the dominant expense is outside plant, and rural areas need
- the longest average wires.
-
- I saw a good illustration of this back in the '70s when I was working
- on Telephone Rate Reports. In Ohio, the highest rate band for (I
- think) United Tel (Lima) was something like 50,000 phones. For Ohio
- Bell, though, that was a fairly low band. So Lima customers paid
- something like $16/month while a Bell customer in a similar town would
- pay maybe $10. Columbus customers would be in OBT's higher bands.
- United thus had to subsidize its huge rural territory (its own cheaper
- bands) with small-city customers, while OBT had big cities to do it.
- Overall, Ohio Bell was much cheaper, but it wasn't because United was
- inefficient.
-
- Charges for touch-tone are, of course, another "value" element not
- related to cost. They add revenue to the system in lieu of collecting
- full cost from everyone. Rural customers need a subsidy (in order to
- have universal service), but things get out of hand when the system
- loses sight of cost.
-
- Telephone service isn't like electric service. A drop line to the
- street doesn't cost the electric company much; their expense is mostly
- in the generation, which is consumed by usage, not connections. Water
- used to be flat-rated in some of my area, but vastly higher costs
- (mostly in sewage treatment) have led to major usage-based charges.
- Heavy users generate more sewage, so it's fair. (Our sewer bills are
- on a usage basis, but use water meters as a surrogate. It's a higher
- per-CCF charge than water per se.)
-
- So what costs do heavy phone users incur? With older CO switches and
- analog transmission, heavy local usage did incur some significant
- expense, though never as much, on average, as the non-usage-sensitive
- portion. With today's costs, it's less so. A modern CO costs around
- $600/line with typical usage. If average traffic were several times
- higher (all modem freaks, etc.) then it would at most double, but more
- likely increase by less than that. Inter-CO transmission is also
- cheaper, now that fiber optics are predominant; they have nearly
- infiite bandwidth, though the multiplexors aren't cheap.
-
- I have no trouble with telcos charging for usage at their true
- incremental cost, marked up a for a reasonable (not double) profit.
- But that's not what local measured service plans usually are. Most
- make usage cover several times its fair burden, thus creating a true
- subsidy to light users from heavy users.
-
- Value of Service pricing never claimed to be cost-justified; it was a
- policy decision. Local measured usage in most cases is really a Value
- of Service plan disguised as cost-justified. The real numbers just
- don't add up.
-
-
- Fred R. Goldstein k1io goldstein@carafe.tay2.dec.com
- Opinions are mine alone; sharing requires permission
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 21:07:00 +0100
- From: naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org (Christian Weisgerber)
- Subject: How Cold is Co-o-o-old?
-
-
- In comp.dcom.telecom the TELECOM Digest Editor notes:
-
- > Some responses are in order on this cold day in Hell ... for the past
- > 39 hours (Friday about 6 PM through Sunday at 9 AM) the temperature in
- > Chicago and suburbs has been sub-zero with a drop to fourteen below zero
- > Friday overnight into Saturday morning; a 'high' temperature of two below
- > zero Saturday and eleven below last night. We're told things may 'warm
-
-
- Hi Pat,
-
- With regard to the international readers of TELECOM Digest I suggest
- that you mention which kind of degrees you mean :-)
-
- (I guess the above values are Fahrenheit.)
-
-
- Christian 'naddy' Weisgerber, Germany naddy@mips.ruessel.sub.org
-
-
- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You bet they are Fahrenheit degrees!
- But the conditions the past three days have been even worse. On
- Monday the temperature hovered about about zero degrees all day and
- dropped to 22 degrees *below zero* overnight into Tuesday morning.
- Our 'high' temperature all day yesterday was 11 degrees *below zero*
- Overnight last night into this morning, the temperature was again
- about 20 below zero and as I write this, we are 'warmed up' once
- again to 11 below zero. It is expected we may reach zero today and
- after another sub-zero night rise into the teens on Thursday. Those
- are Fahrenheit degrees. We are all miserable. It is impossible to
- keep our houses warm. What I am really quite worried about is that
- the gas bill for January will probably be several hundred dollars
- and they will cut my gas off for non-payment. This is a real concern
- to me. This weather is the worst we have had for several years.
-
- We have many people also who try to heat their houses with little
- electric heaters which themselves overheat and start fires. Two nights
- ago a big fire started in an apartment building here due to the
- residents using electric heaters and 'jumping out' the fuses in the
- electric line in order to keep all the heaters going at one time. The
- wires caught fire, the building burned down. All the people went to
- the homeless shelters to live. :( Very bad conditions here. PAT]
-
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- End of TELECOM Digest V14 #40
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