A Beginner's Guide to the Internet/INTERNET.ISO/text/telediag/tc13-183.txt

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TELECOM Digest     Tue, 16 Mar 93 16:46:30 CST    Volume 13 : Issue 183

Index To This Issue:                      Moderator: Patrick A. Townson

    Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93 (Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond)
    Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93 (Will Martin)
    Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93 (Dale Farmer)
    Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93 (Andrew M. Boardman)
    Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted (Carl Oppedahl)
    Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted (Greg Abbott)
    Re: Bell Canada Completing All-Digital Network (John Higdon)
    Re: Bell Canada Completing All-Digital Network (Bohdan Tashchuk)
    Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology (Jeff Kenton)
    Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology (Dale Farmer)
    Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology (Mark Steiger)
    Re: Public Phone 2000 (Doug Krause)
    Re: 18kf Limit Measurement (Craig Myers)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 09:59:36 +0000
Organization: Imperial College, London, UK.
Subject: Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93


Will Martin <[e-mail]> wrote:

> And a side comment -- anybody else out there getting irritated by the
> sloppy re-use and multiple use of acronyms? "ATM" has meant "Automatic
> Teller Machine" for decades now, yet in recent years I've been running
> across other computer-related uses of the exact same acronym.
> "Asynchronous Transfer Mode" is the worst, because it makes the phrase
> "ATM Network" ambiguous and mean at least two different things.

Indeed, one does get irritated by the sloppy re-use of acronyms.
However as far as ATM goes, I think that it is only in USA (and
countries linked to the USA) that ATM is used as "Automatic Teller
Machine". In UK, the use of "Cash machine", or "Cashpoint" is much
more common.

Furthermore, the ATM acronym for "Asynchronous Transfer Mode" has been
agreed-on by the CCITT; it is hence a standard. Has ATM for "Automatic
Teller Machine" ever been standardised by any official body ? :-)


Olivier M.J. Crepin-Leblond, Digital Comms. Section, Elec. Eng. Department
 Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BT, UK
       Internet/Bitnet: <[e-mail]> - Janet: <[e-mail]>

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 7:38:53 CST
From: Will Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93


I can add a couple points to my original posting, after seeing news
reports on the evening of 15 March:

1) It appears that, at least here, credit union ATM networks are still
down and will be for at least another day. Bank ATM networks may be
working; I was able to use a bank ATM for remotely accessing my
account during the day yesterday, though our building credit union ATM
was down all day.

2) The backup site for the New Jersey EDS computer center was in the
World Trade Center!!!!! I wonder how many other financial and East
coast sites are operating right now without backups due to the WTC
closing!?! Also, I'm sure WTC companies are now using other sites as
their backups, which leaves much less capacity for backup operations
for anybody. The ripple effect is spreading ...


Regards,


Will

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

From: [e-mail] (Dale Farmer)
Subject: Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93
Date: 16 Mar 1993 10:07:58 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA


Will Martin ([e-mail]) wrote:

> This past weekend's storm news included at least one Telecom-related
> item: At a computer center in New Jersey somewhere, the weight of snow
> on the roof was great enough to collapse it, thus putting the facility
> out of service. This was operated by EDS and was some sort of central
> networking point for Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) on at least one
> inter-bank network, not just in the East, but nationwide. Many ATMs,
> including some here in St. Louis, MO, were down because of this.

    The same service center services the money machines here at
the Department of Labor Credit Union in DC.  The notice pasted to the
machine also noted that they did have a backup site.  Unfortunatly it
was located in the World Trade Center ...

    Talk about having a really bad month ...


Dale Farmer

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 10:48:11 EST
From: andrew m. boardman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: Telecom and the Blizzard of '93


> 4: One would expect this processing center had what they felt was
> sufficient redundancy and backup safeguards. But were at least some of
> the redundant elemants co-located at the same building where the
> incident occured?

Some area ATMs hereabouts are posted with a notice summarizing Will
Martin's post.  Additionally, they do, indeed, say that there was a
backup facility -- in the World Trade Center ...


andrew m. boardman     [e-mail]


[Moderator's Note: Thanks to Will, Dale, Andy and the nine other
readers who sent articles pointing out the back up site location.  PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Carl Oppedahl)
Subject: Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 18:47:13 GMT


In <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:

> I have read many messages on this bulletin board in which people
> mention Cellular System A and System B settings on their phones.  Can
> anyone explain to me, in plain English, the difference between system
> A and system B?

> [Moderator's Note: [stuff omitted]]

Another difference that obtains here in New York, and I expect in most
other places too, is that the B carriers (due to the MFJ restrictions
imposed after the Bell breakup) are obligated to let you pick which
long-distance carrier you use, while the A's are not.

This has practical consequences.  Suppose I want to use Sprint long
distance, either because I find it to have clearer line quality or
because I can get it consolidated-billed with my other Sprint calls.
Then I cannot use the A carrier, as they are in bed with AT&T.


Carl Oppedahl AA2KW  (intellectual property lawyer)
30 Rockefeller Plaza   New York, NY  10112-0228
voice 212-408-2578     fax [phone]


[Moderator's Note: Here in Chicago, 'our' Cellular One allows a choice
of any of the big three carriers.  PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 12:48:55 CST
From: Greg Abbott <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Cellular System A and B Info Wanted


[e-mail] (David Lemson) wrote:

> By sheer coincidence, the non-wireline carrier in St. Louis is called
> CyberTel and, unless I am mistaken, is owned by Ameritech.  :-)  Of
> course, the wireline carrier in STL is called Southwestern Bell Mobile
> Systems.

> (Funny to see the same ads from Cellular One in Champaign/Urbana and
> CyberTel in St. Louis such as for the 'family pack' around Christmas,
> etc.)  In case some people are confused by this, 'Cellular One' and
> 'CyberTel' are just trade names that various companies pay to use in
> certain markets.

Just as a point of clarification; 'CyberTel' was a private company
providing paging services throughout IL and MO.  Cybertel provided
cellular service in the St. Louis Market.  Last year, Ameritech
purchased CyberTel because they wanted to get into the cellular

business in St. Louis.  The only way they could do it was to buy
CyberTel's cellular *and* paging markets.

Ameritech has carried the 'CyberTel' name and it is now listed as an
Ameritech company.  Most of the CyberTel offices in the central
Illinois area have been consilidated with the Ameritech Mobile
offices.



GREG ABBOTT     E-MAIL: [e-mail]
9-1-1 COORDINATOR       COMPUSERVE MAIL: 76046,3107
METCAD   VOICE: 217/333-4348   FAX:   [phone]
1905 E. MAIN ST.      PAGER: 800/222-6651
URBANA, IL  61801     PIN # 9541

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

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 01:17 PST
From: [e-mail] (John Higdon)
Reply-To: John Higdon <[e-mail]>
Organization: Green Hills and Cows
Subject: Re: Bell Canada Completing All-Digital Network


[e-mail] (Dave Leibold) quotes great
puffery from:

> [Bell News, Bell Canada/Bell Ontario division, 8th March 1993;
> content is that of Bell News, numbered footnotes are my comments]

> World's first fully-digital network is just months away.

Then snorts:

> Thus endeth John Higdon's visions of step-by-steps and even x-bars
> strewn throughout the Great White North (see thread on NAFTA effects
> on Canadian telecommuncations industry).

So just what is the population of Greater Toronto? I should hope that
a city of that size and stature could boast an "all digital" network.
I see nothing in your press release that indicates all the Xbar and
SXS is being removed from the rural areas of Canada, which if you will
re-read my comments is what I was talking about. Modern communications
in major cities is no big deal. So with that in mind let me point out:

The high desert area of California (about as rural as you can get) is
ALREADY "all-digital" -- and has been for some time. The divestiture
nay-sayers claim that "cream skimming" will prevent rural customers
from enjoying "big time" telephone service. Nonsense! The 5ESS and DMS
switches in and around Barstow, Victorville, Hesperia, Adelanto, yes
and even Kramer Junction were all installed SINCE that "dark day" in
1984.

Frankly, I never thought for an instant that there has been a single
SXS or even a Xbar switch anywhere near Toronto for many years. Never
would I suggest that Canadian telecommunication (or anything else
there) is inferior in any way. But there is a faction in Canada (just
as there was in the US nearly a decade ago) that is predicting doom,
gloom, and the collapse of the telephone system if Bell Canada is
relieved of its monopolistic hold.

But from things that I have read from the anti-competition zealots,
there is a considerable amount of liberty-taking with the truth. The
US telephone system has not collapsed, nor is it in any way inferior
to any system anywhere. I have been carrying on e-mail correspondence
with a Canadian who has been genuinely concerned with the impending
competition. He was surprised to learn that local telephone service
did NOT cost an arm and a leg in the US. The fact that the party line
had all but disappeared was news to him. That I can call anywhere in
the country by dialing only ten digits and that the call is completed
instantly was contrary to the impression he had been given by some of
the propaganda up there. He had visions of dialing twenty digits (or
even having to place calls manually giving VISA card numbers, etc.)
and waiting long periods of time to get through the "long distance
nightmare".

Of course Bell Canada is going to demonstrate how "modern" it is. And
it will imply that it would be detrimental to tamper in any way with
its current gravy train. But we can now see the "all digital" light at
the end of the tunnel for the entire state of California -- something
that is a result of competition and divestiture, not in spite of it. I
dare say that had it not been for market forces, California would
still sport mechanical offices even to this day.


John Higdon  |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]     |       FAX:
[e-mail] | San Jose, CA 95150 | 10288 0 700 FOR-A-MOO | [phone]


[Moderator's Note: Whether or not 'local service in the USA now costs
an arm and a leg' is a very subjective decision. I know my phone bill
has skyrocketed since ten years ago, far out of line with what
inflation would have taken it to. I know I am paying $5-6 per
line/month for 'network access' because the carriers to join the
industry in recent years refused to go along with the traditional
separations and settlements process which served AT&T and the local
telcos very well for many years.

I am paying 60-70 cents for each directory assistance call because the
carriers to join the industry in recent years refused to either
establish their own directory assistance bureaus or share the common
costs involved in the maintainence of the 555-1212 services used for
years by AT&T and GTE customers. The newcomers told their customers to
use xxx-555-1212 to get the information free from AT&T, then dial via
the alternate carrier to place the call. International directory
assistance is now $3 per *number* looked up for the same reason. I pay
more for operator assistance surcharges because the carriers to join
the industry in recent years saw no reason to pay the expense of
maintaining actual operator services; for all intents and purposes,
when you dial 10<some carrier other than ATT> plus zero, they might as
well put a recording on the line saying to dial 10288-0 for assistance.

I am paying $1 per line/month for a '911 surcharge' that I have no
use for; and while this can hardly be blamed on the new carriers in
the industry, it just adds frosting to the whole thing. It is not
because of divestiture that the USA phone network has held together as
well as it has, it is *despite* the architecture of our divestiture.
If you have plenty of money and telephone costs are only a small part
of your budget, these costs may be only a small annoyance. To some of
us, they are financial killers.   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Bohdan Tashchuk)
Subject: Re: Bell Canada Completing All-Digital Network
Organization: Fast Technology --- Beaverton, OR
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 19:18:58 GMT


> The final such SEM (switching equipment modernization) will happen on
> June 26. It will give the greater Toronto Area (soon to be the
> restructured 416 area code) the world's first fully-digital
> telecommunications network. [1]

Does this mean that every subscriber is going to be given an ISDN
telephone?  Will they also be given ISDN peripheral cards to replace
their modems?

Or are the millions of "fully-analog" telephones in Toronto not
actually a part of a "telecommunications network"?

I guess that Marketing Slime feel that words mean only what they want
them to mean, nothing more, nothing less. Hmmm. Where have I heard
that before?


Bohdan

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

From: [e-mail] (Jeff Kenton)
Subject: Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology
Organization: Kenton Systems Corporation, Weston MA
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 13:29:34 GMT


[e-mail] (John R. Grout) writes:

> It is city, state, street number, street and apartment number (often
> forgotten) ... there are various automated ways to get nine-digit zip
> information, including a CD-ROM version of the nine-digit zip code
> manuals.

Unfortunately, some of these automated wonders are broken.  There is
at least one of these pieces of software which takes my home address
and changes the zip code to that of a neighboring town, and then
changes the town name to match.  It turns out to be a valid address.

Once a year several companies, in the name of zip code purity, run
through their mailing lists and "fix" their records relating to me.
This has caused the loss of one magazine subscription (Forbes -- it
took them five months to straighten it out) and several credit cards
whose companies got incensed that I wasn't paying bills even though
they admitted they were addressed to the wrong town.


Jeff Kenton    [phone]   [e-mail]

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

From: [e-mail] (Dale Farmer)
Subject: Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology
Date: 16 Mar 1993 10:03:16 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA


The USPS uses a system -- the name escapes me at the moment -- that
takes all incoming flats (flats are exactly that, envelopes and cards
that are no larger that 9x12 inches and do not exceed a given

thickness.  The actual specs are much more detailed.) and runs them
thru a reader.  The reeader has several stages. First it checks for
the presence of the zip code bar code (in the lower right area of the
envelope) and a prepaid bar code (just to the left of the postage
imprint) and for the presence of the correct postage.  If it has a
zip+4 code and correct postage already it is diverted direct to
sorting.  Then it goes thru an OCR reader that scans the address for
name, street, apt/box#, city, state and printed zip.  It runs a
compare to see if the printed zip matches the rest of the info, looks
up and adds the +4 if needed and prints the bar code on the envelope
and sends it to sorting.  If the printed zip does not match the
printed address it performs a lookup on the printed address.  It then
prints the bar code on the envelope. go directly to sorting.  If it
cannot resolve the correct zip+4 it then goes to an operator for
semi-manual operation.

    The operator gets a picture on the monitor of the graphic
image the OCR scanner saw.  He/She can then type in corrected info
based on that or send it to another station where the operator is
looking at the actual envelope and deals with it accordingly.

    The USPS is also in the midst of installing upgrades to these
machines, that will greatly speed processing by putting the scan lines
in the OCR portion closer together. (causing the OCR to have a better
shot at detecting verticals such as H,L,I, etc ...)  recognizing a
much larger number of typefaces, and being able to recognize hand
printed addresses with a much higher success rate.

    The USPS gives a variety of price breaks for mass mailers.
The exact prices change every few months, so I am not current on them.
but they are for: presorting by state; presorting by zipcode; using an
OCRable typeface with full zip+4; preprinting the zip+4 barcode.
These also apply for other than first class also, but that gets much
more complex.  You also have to be sending a fairly large number of
pieces to qualify for discounts.  (c. 500-1000 or more per deposit
into the system.)

    These are as I recollect from about 12/91 when I put together
a proposal for my employer.  I have not kept track of the issues, and
my memory is an unreliable transport mechanism.


Dale Farmer

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

From: [e-mail] (MARK STEIGER)
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1993 18:34:48 -0600
Subject: Re: US Post Office Not Caught up With Modern Technology
Organization: The Dark Knight's Table BBS:  Minnetonka, MN (Free!)


> As far as I know, UPS and Fed Ex are still hand sorting everything.
> Both services are barcoding packages, but the barcodes are with a
> package serial number to allow tracking.  They are not coding with a
> zip code to allow sorting.

Actually, what Fed Ex and UPS do is keep records like package serial
numbers going to zip code xxxxx.  Zip code is a trademark of the Post
Office.  I'm not sure on this, but couldn't they get in trouble for
bar coding it on the package? Anyway, they electronically sort all of
the packages based on what zip code belongs to that serial number.
It's pretty cool to see in action.  Fed Ex gave us a tour at work
since we ship so much.


Mark Steiger, Sysop, The Igloo BBS [phone]
Internet: [e-mail]   Fido: 1:282/4018  Simnet: 16:612/24


[Moderator's Note: Did you know that 'Zip Code' started as an
abbreviation which finally became a word-phrase in its own right? Just
like 'Care' (as in Care Packages) is what we call it now, (it began as
The Committee on American Relief in Europe in the 1945-50 era), and
'Naytoe' (NATO) is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization even though
we never say it that way any longer, 'Zip Code' has a formal name also.

The Postal Service, back in the days when it was the 'US Post Office'
devised the <Z>one <I>mprovement <P>lan Codes as a way to speed mail
delivery. The Zone Improvement Plan got shortened to 'ZIP' as time
went on ...   PAT]

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

From: [e-mail] (Doug Krause)
Subject: Re: Public Phone 2000
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 16 Mar 93 09:29:01 GMT


In article <[e-mail]> TELECOM Moderator responded
to [e-mail] (Doug Krause):

> [Moderator's Note: Thanks very much for taking the time and going to
> the expense to send us a message from that phone. I hope your trip was
> pleasant and not to someplace where the airport is shut down. By the
> way can anyone give us any weather related telecom updates from the
> eastern states? Are they even getting through at all?   PAT]

No problem, and it was fun anyway.  DFW did not get much of the storm.
The temperature dropped from about 80 to the 30s from Wednesday to
Saturday, but that was about it.  It also rained a lot in Houston, but
when doesn't it?


Douglas Krause  [e-mail]   University of California, Irvine

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

From: [e-mail] (Craig Myers)
Subject: Re: 18kf Limit Measurement
Organization: JHU/Applied Physics Laboratory
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 17:18:59 GMT


[e-mail] (sohl,william h) writes:

>> Does this 18,000 ft measurement start at the CO or the neighborhood
>> mux (SLC-96, etc.)?

> The 18,000 feet is the maximum distance for the two wire loop portion
> of the circuit, therefore, the 18,000 feet is a maximum from the
> Remote SLC-96 Mux to the subscriber's Network Terminating equipment

According to a map provided by our local telco, C&P, the limit for
ISDN from a SLC-96 is about 5000 feet.  The cost of the BRITE card is
an extra $20.00 per month with a three year termination liability of
$565 to cover the cost of the card.

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

End of TELECOM Digest V13 #183
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