rborow@bcm1a09.attmail.com (02/19/91)
Pat, In TELECOM V11, #128, you gave us the account of the YMCA resident pestering the Queen. For us not versed in the technical aspects of telecommunications jargon, exactly how could such a call be traced -- especially taking into account that there are numerous calls going into England, out of Chicago, etc. For us layman out here, is it possible to explain this? (I can grasp intra-lata or even inter-lata tracing, but international?) Randy Borow Rolling Meadows, IL. [Moderator's Note: This is a little oversimplified, but tracing a call involves only following the wires from one end to the other. Obviously an intra-CO trace is the easiest, but a trace between offices merely involves someone at one office calling his colleague at the other office and telling him which interoffice trunk the incoming call to his CO is arriving on. Then the distant CO picks it up and keeps following the wire. The Queen's telephone has a pair of wires coming to it from a BT central office. In that CO they see the connection is to an overseas circuit identified by a number. A call to AT&T in White Plains, NY will get someone there to find that overseas circuit and see that it is linked elsewhere. Yes, telcos cooperate with each other on traces when required, when the call being audited or traced goes from one telco to another enroute to its final destination. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V11 #130 ******************************