Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 18:09:27 BST
From: Linc Madison, Oracle Europe <lmadison@IE.oracle.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Voting from Ireland by Fax
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 769, Message 1 of 9

Well, hello, everyone!  I'm off in Ireland on the student work-abroad
thing, having now finished my degree at Berkeley.  I can't read the
Digest (no USENET access, and my employer grumbles enough about
personal e-mail I can't subscribe to the list), but I can still post!

With the day following the first Monday of November fast approaching,
my good old red-white-and-blue blood cells are getting a strong urge
to VOTE.  Trouble is, it's getting rather late in the season to start
the process.  Fortunately, I'm already registered at my "legal address
for voting purposes."  I contacted the U.S. Embassy here in Dublin
about the rest of the process, and it turns out I can do much of the
work by fax.  [The policy on faxing voting materials varies from state
to state in the U.S.  Your mileage may vary.]

I got the brochure that explains that all I have to do is fill out my
FPCA (Federal Post Card Application -- accepted by all the states for
registering and requesting a ballot, although the specifics vary
somewhat) and fax it to Autovon 223-5527, or to (800) 363-8683.  Umm,
excuse me?  I can't call an "800" number from here, and I'm not
anywhere near an Autovon phone.  In fact, I've never even seen one.
(Incidentally, that's 1-800-DOD-VOTE) The appendix to the information
brochure does list POTS/PSTN numbers at the Pentagon to call or fax
for information, but their fax machine doesn't work!  Apparently, the
U.S.  government considers military personnel the only overseas voters
worth much concern or effort for voting purposes.

A friend back in California called the local registrar for me, and the
clerk had never heard anything about faxing in the absent voter
request.  So I called up, got the same answer, and told the woman that
I had in my hand information specifically for the State of California,
provided by the US Embassy.  She put me on to "the front office,"
where the woman gave me the number, without hesitation.  Now we'll see
if they fax back the blank ballot like they're supposed to.

While I'm here, a couple of other musings about the phone system here
in Ireland and in the U.K.  The phone plugs in Ireland are standard
RJ-11, the U.S. kind, not the strange things they have in the U.K.  I
haven't yet had the opportunity to confirm the report I read in the
Digest about the line one/line two wiring being reversed here.  The
phone rates are bloody outrageous, to the point that there is an ad in
today's {Irish Times} for MCI Call America with Friends and Family.

On almost any call over two minutes, you save by dialing on your
home-country-direct number (MCI, AT&T, or Sprint), even without the
F&F discount.  Cheapest rate here is 89p/minute (one 11.17p "unit"
every 7.5 sec., plus VAT at about 12.5%, but Telecom Eireann pays the
first 10% for residential customers; payphone units are 18p incl. VAT,
or as little as 16p with a stored-value card) which is about
$1.63/minute, compared to about $0.60 direct-dial in the other
direction. HC-direct runs about $1/minute at all times of day, plus $3
fee.

The public phones do odd things, too: they're ALL pulse dial, but they
automatically cut over to DTMF on answer supervision, so I can access
my voice-mail at work.  However, AT&T USA Direct doesn't make the cut
over (it's a freephone 1800 number -- not 1-800, but 1800), so you
can't use the automated system from a payphone. Circuits take a long
time to complete, with a loud beeping noise as the system hunts for an
open line to complete your call.  Dublin itself is in the process of
adding a seventh digit to all local numbers.  The agency I work
through is at 679-xxxx, but their fax is 77-xxxx.  Exchanges are quite
geographically specific.  Ireland also switched to "00" for
international access as of April, and has done away with special codes
for dialing the U.K., except for Northern Ireland.

Well, cead mile failte and all that kind of stuff.


Regards,

Linc Madison                   Oracle Europe Manufacturing Limited
lmadison@ie.oracle.com         P. O. Box 34, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Tel. +353 1 283.4700 ext 415   Fax +353 1 295.8963
Direct-dial 283.6216 ext 415#  Home +353 1 288.6082 (until 22.30pm local)