CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU (Werner Uhrig) (01/18/86)
[ from the Austin American Statesman, Tue Jan 14 1986 ]
NEW PHONE SYSTEM LETS 2 TALK ON SAME LINE AT ONCE
by John Markoff - San Francisco Examiner
SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Bell has lifted a veil of secrecy to detail a new
communications service that will permit residential phone customers to use a
single phone line for voice and computer functions at the same time.
The system essentially converts a line that once allowed only a single
conversation or computer connection to carry two voice signals and five
computer signals simultaneously.
As an example, a user could talk on the phone and connect his computer to a
data service over the same line. Or, a burglar alarm could call the police
even while the user was talking on the phone. Or, two people could make
seperate calls at once.
The Project Victoria system, scheduled for testing in Danville, Calif., the
first week in March, is designed to make it simpler for electronic information
services to be tapped by home computer users.
It will also make it possible to offer home banking, energy monitoring and
security services all at once to residential customers.
Pacific Bell is stressing work-at-home and small-business applications of the
system.
Victoria will send digital information directly over telephone lines. Most
residential phone-lines today carry only analog signals. This will save
computer users the expense of high-speed modems - devices that convert analog
to digital signals.
Pacific Bell officials said one of the key advantages of the Victoria system is
that it can easily be installed at existing telephone-company phone-switching
centers or even be offered as a service by other companies that license it from
Pacific Bell.
No decisions have been made on how much the new service will cost or how it
will be marketed. John Lucas, a Pacific Bell spokesman, said that if a new
digital standard emerges, Victoria can be modified to be compatible.
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