HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 92 13:24:27 -0400
From: Garrett.Wollman@UVM.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: More on Cable TV and Radio Stations
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 758, Message 2 of 5

Two items:

Last Wednesday, there was a power outage that affected most of the
city of Burlington (Vermont), my building excepted.  I, of course,
didn't know about it until I called my cable company to complain about
loss of signal, and they told me that there was a power outage in
Burlington. My response, of course, was, "That's odd, I'm in
Burlington and I have power ..."  As it turned out, it was only
eastern parts of the city (the "Hill Section") that was affected, but
it was enough to snow out cable service throughout the entire city.
It seems clear that if the cable companies ever want to compete with
the existing telco, they will have to adopt the same paranoid attitude
that telcos have towards other utilities that they could potentially
depend on.

On a completely different subject ... this area is one of the few
television markets in the country where a good half of the audience is
located in Canada.  This has the interesting result that during many
of the more popular TV programs, our local stations run ads for
Canadian (mostly Montreal) companies intended for Canadian (mostly
Montrealer) consumers.  Recently, a Montreal radio station, calling
itself "MIX 96", started a new ad campaign of the Joe Isuzu variety,
where an unseen announcer tells viewers how wonderful this station is,
and various subliminal messages flash by in the video portion.  I was
able to catch some of these messages: "The best bare naked Twister and
free bagels" was one, and another was "Send in-laws to Chibougamau."


Interesting sales technique ...


Garrett A. Wollman   wollman@emba.uvm.edu 
uvm-gen!wollman      UVM disagrees.
Date: 27 Sep 92 02:53:16 GMT
From: atoscano@attmail.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Remote Access Call Forwarding Available in Houston
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 739, Message 16 of 17

Remote Access to Call Forwarding (RACF) becomes available in Houston
on Monday, 9/28. Southwestern Bell is charging residential customers
$1/month in addition to standard Call Forwarding charges. Custom
Calling features carry an installation charge of $2.70 for one feature
ordered, or $5.40 for two or more features ordered at the same time.

RACF is often confused with Remote Call Forwarding. The latter,
provides a telephone number in one city, which forwards all incoming
calls to another PREDETERMINED number in a distant city, without
providing an actual subscriber loop. The "line" exists only in the
central office. SW Bell markets Remote Call Forwarding as
"TeleBranch."


A Alan Toscano, Houston, TX <atoscano@attmail.com>
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1992  20:24:26 EDT
From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject:  Wash Post buys Cable Channel (Wash Post via Paul Robinson)
Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 755, Message 1 of 12

Business Digest, {Washington Post}, October 1, 1992, Page D13

Washington Post Buys Cable Channel.

   The Washington Post Co. said it has purchased the Pro Am Sports
System, a Michigan sports cable television channel, from Tom Monaghan,
the founder of Domino's Pizza.  The company did not disclose details
of the sale agreement.  PASS has 760,000 subscribers in the state.

Other news in the same issue:

GSA Re-awards FTS 2000 in same percentages.

   The GSA re-awarded the government-phone service contract called
FTS-2000 to AT&T and Sprint, the two long-distance carriers that have
been providing service to the government since 1988, when the contract
was first awarded.  AT&T will continue to handle 60 percent of the
government's voice, data and video network, with Sprint accounting for
the other 40 percent.  The value of the contract over 10 years is
estimated at $25 billion.  Separately, AT&T said the federal
government's long-distance telephone rates will be reduced by 24
percent under the contract.

Hughes sells two satellites.

   Hughes Communications International won a $258 million contract
from the Arab Space Communications Corp. for two satelites to be
launched on France's Ariane rocket.

Intelsat buys two satellites.

   Intelsat, the communications consortium, will pay $165 million for
two GE Astro-Space satellites under a new contract.

US West buys digital cellular equipment.

   US West agreed to buy equipment for its Seattle cellular network
that uses digital technology from Nortel, a joint venture of Northern
Telecom and Motorola.  The purchase is the first commercial
application of the technology.  Terms were not disclosed.


Opinions not necessarily that of this account owner.
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 92 18:47:01 EDT
From: David Leibold <DLEIBOLD@VM1.YorkU.CA>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: TPC-4 Cable Nearly Ready (Canada, U.S., Japan Traffic)
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 753, Message 3 of 18

 From Teleglobe's {Global Connections}, Aug-Sept 1992

New cable knits Teleglobe's network together:

On June 11, the C.S. {Global Sentinel} began laying the shore end of
the TPC-4 fiber-optic cable just off Port Alberni, British Columbia.
Laying of the 9800 km cable was completed in mid-August. The
fiber-optic system will connect Teleglobe's Port Alberni Cable Station
with Point Arena (California) and Chikura (Japan) starting October 31,
1992.


dleibold@vm1.yorku.ca
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 17:55:25 CDT
From: varney@ihlpf.att.com (Alan L Varney)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: N0N/N1N Exchanges and 1+ Dialing
Organization: AT&T Network Systems, Lisle, IL
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 746, Message 7 of 11

> I don't see how this distinction is possible without a ten-digit
> dialing requirement.

   You are correct for areas where 1 + seven-digit dialing exists.
Note, however, the "standard" method of determining intra-NPA from
inter-NPA calls is the presence of "1+".  Thus, from ANY telephone in
(say) NPA 212:

A   818-xxxx     (intra-NPA, national number is 212-818-xxxx)
B 1-818-www-xxxx (inter-NPA to national number 818-www-xxxx)

   The "non-standard" method, where "1+" is required for all toll
calls, uses either 10-digit dialing for "toll" calls, or the timing
after the 1+7-digit call that PAT mentioned.  Timing in considered a
misuse of the caller's and the switch's time and resources, so it's
only used in unusual cases.  For the "1+ for toll" areas, the patterns
are:

C   818-xxxx     ("non-toll" intra-NPA, national number is 212-818-xxxx)
D 1-212-818-xxxx ("toll" intra-NPA, national number is 212-818-xxxx)
E 1-818-www-xxxx (inter-NPA to national number 818-www-xxxx)

   With this method, you have to know:

1) the telephone number you are calling from (or at least its NXX code)

2) whether the call to 818 from your NXX is a toll call Otherwise, it
might take two attempts to complete the call, using patterns C and D.
Bellcore says that D should be valid everywhere within your NPA, even
from "non-toll" calls), but it hasn't been implemented very widely.

   Also, with "1+ for toll", support for ten-digit "non-toll" calls
requires that "818-www-xxxx" be allowed from adjacent NXXs in another
NPA without the "1+", or that the "www" NXX be accessible via
seven-digit dialing.  The latter forces ten-digit dialing to the "www"
exchange within the NPA, if it exists.  All-in-all, it gets confusing.


Al Varney
From: shri%unreal@cs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Speech Recognition Added to Telephone Messaging System
Date: 26 Sep 92 03:22:10 GMT
Organization: UMass, Amherst, MA / Temporal Sys & Comp Net, Bombay, India.
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 733, Message 1 of 13

In article <telecom12.729.9@eecs.nwu.edu> cmoore@BRL.MIL wrote:

> I called those Dallas-area voice recognition phone numbers recently
> published in the Digest.  I had at least two cases of "seven" going
> through as "two".

  And my Asian/Indian-accented "two" was always consitently read as a
"zero". It did get my two correct when I deliberately put on the best
American accent I could manage.

  Seven as a two, two as a zero ... !? Even the number of syllables,
phonemes, allophones ... (whoever you count) differ!


shrikumar ( shri@legato.cs.umass.edu, shri@iucaa.ernet.in )
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 21:34:45 GMT
From: joel@wam.umd.edu (Joel M. Hoffman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Email to Serbia (Yugoslav
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 742, Message 9 of 9

It seems the BITNET link to Belgrad Univ. (in Serbia, Yugoslavia) was
disconnected as part of the embargo.  Is there still anyway to get
e-mail through?  Some people have mentioned X.25 links.  Is there
anyway to bounce mail off of a cite in Europe to these X.25 links, and
then get the mail back to Internet/Bitnet.  Yugoslavia has an internal
network, but I'm not sure how to reach it.

I'm not sure what X.25 means, but I gather it's a private Internet-
like world-wide network.  I would even be interested in any sites that
relay mail from Internet to X.25 for a fee.

On a related note, email was the country's last source of independent
news, and if there is any procedure for trying to re-establish the
link, I'd be interested to know about it.

BTW, telephone calls and regular mail are both still going through, so
I don't understand why email should be a problem.  Sigh.


Many thanks.

Joel
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 18:23:33 GMT
From: tazman@wam.umd.edu (John A. Romano)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Recommendations for an Emergency Phone System
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 753, Message 9 of 18

Hi!

I am looking for recommendations/information on campus-wide emergency
phone systems.  Right now at the University of Maryland we have a
proprietary AT&T system which has been less-than-reliable and terribly
time consuming and costly to upgrade.  I would like to evaluate some
alternative systems which provide the following features:

	-Display of off-hook and trouble conditions
	  (Some sort of Auto Circuit Assurance);

	-Monitoring software that runs on a PC;

	-Easy administration (doesn't require a rocket
	 scientist or a call to the vendor to add a phone);

	-Remote notification of system trouble;

	-Ability to handle at least 200 phones;

	-Either readily available off-the-shelf
	 parts or the availibility to purchase
	 a maintainence contract with 24 hour turn
	 around time.

Any and all information would be most helpful. Thanks in advance!

 
John Romano      UMCP Communication Services
jromano@umdacc.umd.edu    tazman@wam.umd.edu
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 00:56:59 EDT
From: JOHN SCHMIDT <schmidt@auvax1.adelphi.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Quick New York Telephone Repair (Sort Of ...)
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 740, Message 6 of 9

Some years ago, about 22 I think, we moved WBAU into a new building
here at Adelphi.  At that time we rented many "dry pair" radio lines
across the campus to feed Carrier Current transmitters, PA systems,
etc.  (Adelphi owns the cable now, so we dont rent them anymore, we
own them :-)

Anyway, NYTel had to move one end of all these circuits to a new
building one summer.  When we went to connect them back up to our
equipment, they all worked, except one pair, driving a PA system in
the theatre used for "background" music in the shop, office, etc.
That pair had telco battery on it, and when momentarily grounded,
produced dial tone.  Aha, crossed with a pay phone says I, as I called
the installation supervisor to ask them to fix it.  No problem says
them.  A week later it still had the same problem.  After a moments
thought, I called them and reported the problem again.  This time I
added the "fact" that the people in the theatre were listening to all
the phone calls on the PA system.  (unlikely, but they didn't know).
Within ONE hour, a crew shows up to fix the line!  About a half our
later they come back and say "all fixed, should be ok now".  It was.

AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY:

About two weeks later a student who worked at the station says to me
"John, there's this pay phone on the second floor of the Science
Building that you get the radio station on when you pick it up.  You
don't even have to put a dime (correct, 22 years ago) in!"  Boy did I
get a good laugh.  We left it that way, waiting to see what would
happen.  It never got fixed!  About six months later they took the
phone out (luckily without shorting the pair).  I guess it wasn't
collecting much money:-].


John H. Schmidt, P.E.        Internet: schmidt@auvax1.adelphi.edu
Technical Director, WBAU     Phone--Days     (212)456-4218
Adelphi University                  Evenings (516)877-6400
Garden City, New York 11530  Fax-------------(212)456-2424


[Moderator's Note: I'm one of those people who when they see or
experience a pay phone out of order actually calls it in to repair
service. It is interesting to go past a week later and see how many of
the called in repairs have actually been done and how many of the pay
phones are still out of order.  PAT]
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 06:20:54 PDT
From: Public Service Telecommunications Consortium <pstc@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: References Wanted to Government Telecom Expenditures
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 755, Message 12 of 12

In connection with a research project I am seeking statistics on the
(preferably worldwide; I'd be happy finding just U.S.) expenditures
for telecommunications (telephone, fax, e-mail, telex, data) by the
public sector.  For my purposes, public sector includes government,
the UN and its agencies, foundations, public health and safety
administrators/providers, those concerned with disaster warning/
assistance/relief, etc.

To my surprise, more than a dozen calls to various U.S. government
repositories of statistics turned up no one who could even tell me
what the government's bill is.  Would anyone be able to (a) provide
figures or, (b) point me to public sources?  I am also interested in
educational organizations expenditures.  In short, the costs for
telecommunications for that sector of society, sometimes called the
public service sector, which provides, for fee or for free, social
services.  Many thanks.  


Bert Cowlan.  Public Service
Telecommunications Corporation/International, <pstc> on IGC.
From: cbnewsl!gdw@cbnewsk.att.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Problems With OP Station Over SLC-96
Date: 26 Sep 92 12:50:00 GMT
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 734, Message 1 of 13

Jeff@digtype.airage.com (Jeff Wasilko):

> We're trying to get six Off-Premises-Extensions working off of a
> Northern Norstar. The OPXs are coming off the Norstar via ATAs (analog
> terminal adaptors) since the Norstar doesn't support analog line
> cards ...

Do you happen to know the type of Channel units used in the SLC96?
They have numbers like WP42 or SD7C035. It's possible that the ringing
bursts are too short to be detected. There may be channel units that
are more suited to your needs. I'll check around to see how this
service is normally provided.
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 15:55:27 -0500
From: Charlie.Mingo@p4218.f70.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Charlie Mingo)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Kauai Communications Out
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 739, Message 7 of 17

john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes:

> And in case you are unaware, our satellite capability in re:
> hurricanes is in serious trouble. Normally there are two GOES series
> satellites, one positioned over the Pacific and the other over the
> Atlantic. A couple of years ago, the Pacific satellite died so the
> Atlantic one was repositioned over the central US. This has severely
> restricted the hurricane watching capability over both oceans. In
> addition, the remaining GOES satellite has passed its design life span
> and could fail at any moment, virtually blinding our weather
> forcasters. 

> The next launchings (GOES-NEXT) are scheduled for
> mid-1994. I leave it to you to see the potential trouble.
  
   A minor correction, as John seems to have forgotten that countries
other then the US also have satellites:

   The last functioning GOES is positioned over the West Coast of the
US, where the Hawaiian islands are just within its coverage.  The
approaches to the Hawaiian islands are not, allowing them to be
blindsided by a storm that comes up from the "wrong" direction (like
Iniki).

   The East Coast is served by a French Merisat satellite, which
replaced the GOES that died.  The French have a substantial excess of
weather satellites, and are happy to lease them out.  It is expected
that the US will lease another French satellite if the West Coast GOES
dies before its replacement is ready.

   (The French satellites aren't quite as good as the GOES they
replace, as they do not have "sounders" to measure wind direction and
speed, which makes it harder for them to predict where the hurricane
will go.  Simplicity does have its virtues, however, as the GOES-Next
birds are grounded by malfunctions in their sophisticated circuitry.)
From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Cellular Phones With Deals Attached
Date: 4 Oct 92 21:24:50 GMT
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 760, Message 7 of 12

ganek@apollo.hp.com (Dan Ganek) writes:

> Free/cheap cellular phones are the norm here in the NE. I never did
> understand why CA made such tie-in's illegal. If I'm running some sort
> of service business and offer to subsidize my customer's equipment,
> why not?  I'm not REQUIRING them to do it.

It's California.  We apparently lead the nation in Stupid People Who
Must Be Protected From Themselves, given the number of similar laws
which also reduce the options of the competent.

It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 18:30:16 GMT
From: davidr@socrates.ucsf.edu (David Rivkin%Kollman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: ANI and Caller ID Specs via FTP
Organization: Computer Graphics Laboratory, UCSF
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 738, Message 6 of 14

Does anyone have or is there an FTP site for the specifications on ANI
services and Caller ID services?  I need the real details (like
tariffs), not the basics.  If different RBOCs have different specs,
(like one uses MF, another DTMF, one uses Wink, the other after pick
up - for ANI) then can you include the different areas as well.


Thanks all,

David Rivkin   UCSF   davidr@cgl.ucsf.edu
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 03:17:18 GMT
From: davidson@ccrs.emr.ca (David Davidson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Modem Recommendations For Developing Nations Installation
Organization: Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Ottawa
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 738, Message 12 of 14

I work in a group involved in technology transfer for developing
nations.  Our current project is in East Europe. Sorry for any hurt
feelings about calling this region "developing".

I am putting in some IBM RISK 6000s into Czechoslovakia (CSFR) which
will have an internal modem. I have been warned that the phone lines
are incredibly noisey and inside cities "switched" so that short
interruptions are common. Can anyone recommend either a brand of modem
or some suggestions of specs that I should look for? I require a very
robust modem 2400 or 9600 baud, and preferable internal.

I would prefer if you would reply to me directly, and I can then post
a summary of the replies for others interested.

Please accept my thanks in advance,


Regards,

David    davidson@ccrs.emr.ca
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 15:03:41 GMT
From: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Local Battery
Reply-To: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Organization: Columbia University
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 747, Message 2 of 14

In article <telecom12.744.11@eecs.nwu.edu> MPA15C!RANDY@TRENGA.tredydev.
unisys.com writes:

> In a local-battery phone, how was the battery charged?

It wasn't.  When you found that you started to have difficulty hearing
the calling party, you opened up the phone and replaced the battery.


Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.    gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu 
N2GPZ in ham radio circles      72355,1226 on CI$
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 09:40:19 PDT
From: 29-Sep-1992 1242 <pierpont@snax.enet.dec.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Digital Cable Radio (was Thoughts About WFMT vrs WNIB) 
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 747, Message 4 of 14

Brad Hicks mentions Digital Cable Radio and give a glowing review.  I
am involved with both Cable TV work [user and advisor] and with Public
Radio [consultant]. I am very interested in DCR.

He mentions:

> I'm writing this from work, so I don't have my cheat-sheet with me,
> but from memory they've got two classical channels (one of which plays
> full length symphonies and operas off and on throughout the week), one

Can you send me a copy of the "Cheat sheet"? Where are you located?
Any added information?


Thanks,

Howard Pierpont P.O.Box 937 Dayville CT 06241-0937 (203) 779-2570 Home
Digital Equipment Corp. 77 Reed Road, Hudson MA 01752 Work
While this is partly related to my job, I seldom get to speak for them...
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 12:42:32 GMT
From: jfraser@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jane Fraser)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: TASI (was AT&T Announces Encryption Security Device)
Organization: The Ohio State University
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 747, Message 14 of 14

In article <telecom12.744.12@eecs.nwu.edu> dancer!whs70@uunet.UU.NET
(22501-sohl) writes:

> I don't know about today, but in the past there was.  A system called
> TASI was used on international cables to make use of the slices of
> silence in each direction.  I suspect it has long since been abandoned
> as circuit capacity has expanded tremendously since the time it was
> used.  The acronym TASI was something like: Time A????? Speech
> Interpolation I think.

It's either Assignment or Assigned.  If you really want details I'll
ask my father, John Fraser, who worked for Bell Labs for 35 years and
invented much of TASI.


Jane Fraser
Certified Bell Labs Brat 


[Moderator's Note: Jane, we haven't heard much from you lately. Are
you still coordinating the telecom seminars at the University? You
used to send us announcemets of forthcoming events all the time.  PAT]