CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU.UUCP (04/02/87)
I don't recall seeing this message make the digests. was it rejected by the moderator or did it not arrive? --------------- Date: Sat 21 Mar 87 04:53:52-CST From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Subject: Q: reporting (or not) your hardware to the TELCO ?! To: telecom@R20.UTEXAS.EDU In-Reply-To: Message of Fri 20 Mar 87 01:32:55-CST Message-ID: <12288119033.25.CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU> Gary Wells <gary%percival%reed%tektronix.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET> writes in TELECOM Digest V6 #23 ... > There are several methods used by the telco's for line testing. ..... > By knowing WHAT is hanging > on the end of your cable, you can quickly tell the status of the pair AND the > station. This is why the telco's fought so hard about registration. They > really didn't care about the equipment, they just need to know what it > "looks" like, for trouble isolation purposes. HMMMM, it's been years now that I've taken the trouble to tell SWB about the latest changes in equipment that I've connected at my end - mainly, because it changes so often and because I'm under the impression that they don't really care to know; or, at least, don't do anything with the information that I give them about my latest set of hardware (besides, it often changes on a daily basis; what with all these new modems, answering machines, phones and other gadgets to test and play with :-) Now, what I'd like to know is the following: 1) Can someone tell me what the phone company *SHOULD* be doing with the data describing my hardware? 2) Is there something that I should *INSIST* that SWB do in response to me reporting what I have connected? 3) Is there some way that I can test that they *ACTUALLY DID* what needed to be done at their end? 4) Can not reporting my latest set of hardware lead to *DEGRADING* in line quality somehow? for example, could this lead to degraded line quality for data communications using a modem (especially at 2400 baud)? or to another phenomenon, such as "not all connected phones ring during an incoming call"? I guess, what I really need is a pointer to a book which really all that I may ever want to know about telephones and data-communications in a lingo I can understand and make sense of (i.e. don't require the background and knowledge of the lingo of a telecommunications engineer). Please, *DO* give pointers !! ---Werner -------
bob@acornrc.UUCP.UUCP (04/03/87)
About a year ago, I got to feeling guilty with all the equipment on my one phone line (4 phones, answering machine, modem), and wondered whether suddently things might stop ringing, so I dutifully wrote down all the RENs, serial numbers, etc., and called up Pacific Bell. The fellow who answered my call was rather surprised when I told him why I was calling. He chuckled and replied that Pac Bell's equipment doesn't care about what you've got on your line, so their people don't care either. I never got to rattle off my list of RENs. -- Bob Weissman Internet: bob@acornrc.UUCP UUCP: ...!{ ames | decwrl | oliveb | apple }!acornrc!bob Arpanet: bob%acornrc.UUCP@AMES.ARPA