KLUB@maristb.bitnet (Richard Budd) (01/14/91)
A friend handles mortgages for customers of the Bayerische Hypotheken Bank in Munich. Since November he is on temporary assignment with their new offices in Leipzig. (Don't get me started on his adventures trying to explain mortgages to customers who haven't been allowed to purchase a house in over forty years.) After being unable to establish telephone contact between Leipzig and Munich through the former East German phone system, the Leipzig office set up a satellite uplink and as of our last conversation in December, calls from the Leipzig branch to Munich headquarters are bounced back and forth off the satellite. Propogationhas been a small trade off against waiting over an hour to get a clear line to Munich through the existing system. I would be interested in hearing how the telephone system in reunited Germany is coming along and when that system will itself be reunited. Needless to say according to my friend, it will be a long time before the Leipzig office will be installing automatic tellers. I speak for myself on Marist's system and not for IBM, on whose system I can't even receive TELECOM Digest. [Moderator's Note: There is a distribution list for TELECOM Digest at IBM and I'm sure they would add you if asked. PAT]