djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (02/11/90)
1) Northern Telecom recently unveiled its Meridian 1 PBX line, designed for 30 to 60 000 lines, relying on modular design for flexibility. Incidentally, British Telecom is the exclusive distributor of the new Meridian 1 switch in the UK. This is at the same time as BT's intent to sell its share of Mitel, but we're not supposed to connect the two events of course... :-& 2) Carl Moore wondered about Zaire country code; it should be 243, according to the best sources available... (there are other 24x countries, so just 24 won't do). 3) In the previous discussion about new dialing procedures, and that many areas would have to go 1 + 10 digits, even for intra-area calls, one possible method that seems forgotten in any of the stuff i've read is to use (for touch tone) 1 + 7 digits (within NPA) + '#' (octothorpe). This is a variant on the timeout scheme where one waits after dialing 7 digits. Incidentally, many overseas dialings can be terminated with '#' on a tone fone. Bell Canada doesn't publicise this too much, since not all exchanges will let you finish overseas calls with a '#'. 4) Don't miss out on one of the hardest-hitting pieces of telecom literature, namely Bellcore document TR-620-23352-84-03, Wasp and Hornet Spray Issue 1 Aug 1984. For only $17.25, you can find "the chemical, electrical, regulatory and corresponding test methods for comparing the product against the generic requirements. The test methods specified are intended to reflect a composite picture of actual operating conditions." 5) As area codes like 310 and 510 are assigned, is TWX now officially dead (the technology has long been obsolete since Kansas City Standard (ie. 300 baud), but maybe some people still use TWX somewhere)? || David Leibold "The trouble with normal is it always gets worse" || djcl@contact.uucp - Bruce Cockburn || (backup address: david.leibold@canremote.uucp)