telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) (12/14/89)
Former Senator Gary Hart is stringing telephone wire across the Soviet Union. Hart, who is a close personal pal of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, is trying to bring the Soviet telephone system into the fast approaching twenty-first century. In conjuction with *US WEST*, he is working on setting up fiber optic lines across the Soviet Union, and international phone lines from Hamburg to Tokyo. "Hart and Gorbachev signed a letter of agreement for the phone system a few days ago," said my source for this news. "And if Hart isn't getting a nice commission on this deal, he's nuts!." Da! Patrick Townson
Sakari Mattila <mattila@hemuli.atk.vtt.fi> (12/24/89)
It may be of interest to know, that there is at least one public BBS in the USSR. It is located in Tallin, Estonia. Its phone number is reachable using direct dialing +7 0142 422583. I have called it, lines are quite noisy, but usable. Modem is CCITT V.22 (1200 b/s), also CCITT V.21 is said to be available. There is, of course, auto-answer full 24 hours a day. BBS software is PCBoard (R) version 14.1/D running on some kind of PC klone. Its name is "EESTI BBS 1", command language is English, texts are at least in English, Estonian and Finnish. Sakari M. Mattila (OH2AZG) 71307.1525@CompuServe.COM [Moderator's Note: What a nice holiday present it might be to give this chap a call, even for five minutes or so, and wish him the best from his friends in the United States and elsewhere in the world of TELECOM Digest readers. If anyone does call, consider reporting back to us here, or perhaps downloading a bit of your session on line. My best wishes for a safe and happy holiday to all. The next issue of the Digest will be Tuesday morning, December 26, barring unforseen developments. PT]