arushton%scivax@BU-IT.BU.EDU ("KEPLER::HUI") (08/19/87)
I would appreciate advice/recommendations on my upcoming choice of long distance carrier. I would also appreciate a copy (or pointer) to the last survey of long distance carrier rates in telecom-digest. (I've been offnet for several months.) My calling pattern is mostly from home (area code 301) to California (area codes 805, 707) and to West Germany. Calling is almost entirely during non-peak rate periods. Oh yes, home is Baltimore, MD. With respect to Germany, I would appreciate information on who supplies service (anyone other than AT&T yet?) and differencies in hours for minimum rate. Also the local phone company (C&P) charges extra (of course) for tone service. Does anyone know if they're actually equipped to NOT provide it if you don't order it? Many thanks for all responses. Please reply to me directly as arushton@stsci.arpa I'm not on the telecom mailing list yet. - A. Minick Rushton Space Telescope Science Institute ------ ------
peter@citcom.UUCP (Peter Klosky) (08/24/87)
> Also the local phone company (C&P) charges extra (of course) > for tone service. Does anyone know if they're actually > equipped to NOT provide it if you don't order it? We did not order touch tone service here in Reston, VA, which is also C&P, and tones are not recognized. This only presents a few minor problems: 1. Have to switch from pulse to tone when talking to customer devices that respond to tones at the called party. 2. Takes a long time to dial a number. Those make/break pulses occur at ten hertz, and that isn't even taking interdigit intervals into account. And where did we learn these terms such as "make/break ratio" and "pulse rate" ? From "Understanding Telephone Electronics" the $3.49 tutorial on the phone written by Texas Instruments Training, and available at Radio Shack. Just in case anyone is interested, we here at Citcom Systems are working on a man-machine interface for a dx3-3 cross connect system. We don't know who can provide the service to West Germany you require. We do use normal 1200 baud modems to call our main office in Paris, France on a daily basis, however. Takes a long time for the switching to take place, and the line is often noisy. Line noise is no problem, of course, as we use the retransmitting uucp protocols. Peter Klosky -- Peter Klosky, Citcom Systems (materiel de telecommunications) seismo!vrdxhq!baskin!citcom!peter (703) 689-2800 x 235