telecom@ucbvax.ARPA (05/25/85)
From: Jon Solomon (the Moderator) <Telecom-Request@BBNCCA>
TELECOM Digest Sat, 25 May 85 14:30:00 EDT Volume 4 : Issue 194
Today's Topics:
Call Waiting
Re : Call Waiting + Modem
Long Distance carriers
Call Waiting
Re: TELECOM Digest V4 #193 (Call Waiting)
Are calling cards divested?
Representation of International Phone Numbers
alternatives to ATT
duration of ring and busy signals in various exchanges
Call Waiting's new trick: another feature!
Re: telephone innards
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 May 85 23:11:38 EST
From: Donald E. Hopkins <A2DEH@MIT-MC>
Subject: Call Waiting
To: VARDI@SU-CSLI
Don't bother using a modem on a line with call waiting unless you also
have call forwarding, or you enjoy being disconnected every time some
bozoid calls to sell you storm windows or a newspaper subscription. If
you have call forwarding, just forward the line to somewhere else
before you use it.
-Don
------------------------------
Date: Fri 17 May 85 23:23:11-EDT
From: Glen Daniels <MLY.G.DANIELS%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Subject: Re : Call Waiting + Modem
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
I sympathize...I have call waiting, and a modem, so a LOT of my
calls are interrupted. About ways around it, there are a few.
1) Disable the call waiting. This is available in quite a few
LATA's now, and is called "selective call-waiting". It is used by
dialing *70 at the dialtone. You then get another tone, and from
this, you make your call. The call will not be interrupted (callers
get a busy signal).
2) If you want the call waiting AND the modem, you got some problems.
All modems I know default to hanging up whenever a call-waiting
beep is heard, but this depends on the amount of time the
particular modem takes to disconnect without a carrier. If
the time is above that of the beep, you just get screen-garbage,
but you are still connected. As for taking the call waiting call
AND still keeping the modem call, this is basically impossible,
unless you get a modem that will sit there and wait until you
get back from your call and give it a carrier. This COULD be done with some fancy programming, but it would be a pain.
I despise having my precious net-connections ruined
by call-waiting, so I shut it off whenver I call OZ.
Glen Daniels
ARPA:GDaniels%OZ@MIT-MC
CHAOS:GDaniels@MIT-OZ
Knowledge is power!
-------
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 May 85 11:34:23 EDT
From: Jon Solomon <jsol@BBNCC5.ARPA>
To: telecom@bbncca.ARPA
Subject: Long Distance carriers
I just received a group of files (from an anonymous source) which
compare long distance companies offering service in California.
These files would be of interest to those in California who are
trying to decide what carrier they want to use. Note. We don't
recommend any of the carriers, that is not our intention.
The files are available for FTP from SRI-CSL in <TELECOM>LDISC.TXT,
<TELECOM>LDRATES.TXT, and <TELECOM>LDNOTES.TXT
If you are unable to FTP them, send mail to telecom-request and I will
mail them to you.
Cheers,
--JSol
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 18 May 85 17:41:23 edt
From: Michael A. Grant <mgrant@gymble>
To: VARDI@SU-CSLI.ARPA
Subject: Call Waiting
Cc: TELECOM@BBNCCA.ARPA
As most of you may have experienced at one time or another, Call Waiting
does not work too well with a modem on the line. It would be really
nice if there was a key sequence that could turn it off. What I usually
do, since I have 2 phone lines, is to forward my modem line to the other
line when I use the modem. For those of you who don't have 2 lines,
you could forward you phone to some constantly busy line. All ESS
exchanges have many of these type numbers up in the test series
exchange - 99xx (ie 730-9911) (Infact, there are many interesting
numbers in this series such as dialups, recordings, back-doors to 911
etc. Does anyone know if there is a standard mapping for these numbers?)
My favorite is to forward my phone to the recording, "I'm sorry, the
call you have placed requires a 20 cent deposit, Please hang up the
phone, deposit 20 cents, and try your call again." when I don't want
to recieve any calls.
------------------------------
From: ihnp4!pesnta!peora!jer@Berkeley
Date: Monday, 20 May 1985 09:20-EDT
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V4 #193 (Call Waiting)
In-reply-to: USENET article <7262@ucbvax.ARPA>
> What happens when you have Call Waiting on a line that is
> connected to a modem. Is it possible to take the call without
> disconnecting your remote session?
> Moshe Vardi
> Vardi@su-aimvax.arpa
In my experience, simply the tone signal produced to indicate that you have
an incoming call causes the modem to disconnect. (Well, actually the loss
of carrier during the interval when the tone is produced).
Personally, I tend to agree with Judith Martin (Miss Manners), who pointed
out in a recent column that Call Waiting is essentially an attempt to force
"last come, first served" on the previous caller, and who subsequently
declared call waiting to be "rude".
--
Full-Name: J. Eric Roskos
UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer
US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC;
2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642
"Vg'f whfg guvf yvggyr puebzvhz fjvgpu urer... lbh thlf
ner FB fhcrefgvgvbhf!"
------------------------------
From: ima!johnl@bbncca
Date: Tue May 21 18:09:00 1985
Subject: Are calling cards divested?
To: bbncca!telecom
My wallet was stolen a few weeks back, so among other things I called both
the local telco and AT&T to tell them that my card was stolen, could they
issue a new one. A few days later, telco sent me a traditional calling
card (the handy thin kind that's just right for popping open cheap locks)
with a scrambled card number starting with 601. About two weeks after
that, AT&T sent me one of their cards (the thick one with the magnetic
stripe on the back and the dramatic picture of the globe on the front) with
exactly the same number. Hmmn.
Who assigns calling card numbers, anyway? Before divestiture I know it was
the local telcos, since my uncle's tiny phone company in western Vermont did
and does make up the card numbers for his customers. But does AT&T still
get card numbers from the BOCs? Or what? For that matter, if I dial
0+NXX-XXXX, I type in my calling card number and make an intra-Lata call,
handled by my BOC. And then if I push # and dial a number with an NPA,
I have this sneaking suspicion that the call gets handed to AT&T. Is there
really a difference between my AT&T card and my New England Tel calling card?
So anyway, when you dial 0+number, who is collecting the card number?
John Levine, Levine@YALE.ARPA or ima!johnl
PS: For that matter, when does 0 get you a telco operator and when does
it get an AT&T operator?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 May 85 16:21:31 EST
From: Peter G. Capek <capek.yktvmv@ibm-sj.csnet>
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
Subject: Representation of International Phone Numbers
(The earliest TELECOMM digest I have access to here is Vol 4 No. 173. Can
we get copies of the earlier ones?)
Does anyone know of a "standard" representation for telephone numbers that
is widely understood? I'm looking for something which is succinct but
distinguishes country code, city code and local number. Ideally, it would
be helpful to have a way to distinguish a DID (Centrex) number from an
operator number as well.
I'm involved with an effort having international telephone directories on
line in many countries and trying to minimize the amount of special-casing
to be done to show people a phone number in a form they'll understand.
Also, does anyone know of a reliable source for a machine-readable area code
and country+city code directory?
Peter Capek
IBM Research
Yorktown Heights, New York
914-945-1250
------------------------------
Date: 23 May 85 10:49:07 PDT (Thursday)
From: Lynn.es@Xerox.ARPA
Subject: alternatives to ATT
To: TELECOM@BBNCCA.ARPA
Well here comes equal access to 714 (June 29 for 775 prefix). I just
got my notice from Pacific Bell. I suspected it was about that time
when GTE started sending me offers to sign up for Sprint on equal access
(and offers from ATT to NOT sign up for anyone else, for that matter)
before I had any information on which to make such a decision, in fact
before I was told I could make the decision.
Anyway what concerns me now is what those of you who subscribe to any of
these alternatives think about them in terms of 1) audio quality, 2)
cost, 3) cost and ease of using the service when not at home, 4) any
other factors you think are important. Of the twelve options available
in my area, I ruled out, on various grounds of suitability, everybody
except Allnet, MCI, and Sprint. If I made more calls per month, it is
clear that SBS Skyline (which has a $15 minimum per month) would be the
clear choice by price and quality over these three, which seem about
equally second best.
If you answer directly to me, I will submit a summary here later (unless
you ask me not to quote you in my summary).
/Don Lynn (Lynn.es@XEROX.ARPA)
------------------------------
Date: Thursday, 23 May 1985 18:18:27 EDT
From: Sesh.Murthy@cmu-ri-leg.arpa
To: telecom@bbncca.arpa
Subject: duration of ring and busy signals in various exchanges
I would like to know the exact duration of RING and busy and fast busy
signals. That is I am interested in the the time when sound is
present on the line and when no sound is present on the line and their sum.
I am told that these durations differ depending on various exchanges. Can
anyone tell me what the values normally are and what the variation can be.
Else can you give me a pointer to where this information can be found.
Thanks for the help.
Sesh Murthy
uucp: seismo!rochester!cmu-ri-leg!ssm
arpa: ssm@cmu-ri-leg
------------------------------
Date: 23 May 85 22:35-EDT
From: James A. Dorf <stdtjad%BOSTONU.bitnet@WISCVM.ARPA>
Subject: Call Waiting's new trick: another feature!
To: telecom@bbncca.arpa
-----
Hi all! By now most of us know about the new "Selective Call-Waiting"
feature... A new twist I saw in some telco doc: if you also have
"Three-Way-Calling" and dial *70 (or 1170) on your second-line, you
can shut off three-way on a call already in progress on your main.
When you dial the *70 (or 1170) it gives two quick beeps to confirm
and then clacks you back onto your primary line...
Cute/jad
-----
------------------------------
Date: 22-May-85 10:10:16-PDT
From: jbn@FORD-WDL1.ARPA
Subject: Re: telephone innards
To: Telecom-Request@BBNCCA.ARPA
Cc: jbn@FORD-WDL1.ARPA
One of the less-known capabilities of the old WE 600 series telephone
instruments is that automatic compensation is provided for losses in the
local loop; a varisistor driven by the DC level as seen at the instrument is
used to adjust the signal level. This is not an audio compression circuit;
it's the long-term DC voltage (``battery'' in telco terminology) as
seen at the instrument that does it.
Since a varisistor is a non-linear component, this makes a telephone
an RF detector in theory and sometimes in fact, and there was a fix kit for
RFI available for the model 600 at one time; later models had it built-in.
This gives a little more insight into what's inside that potted network.
John Nagle
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End of TELECOM Digest
******************************hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) (05/29/85)
In response to the question on how to display international telephone numbers: The CCITT standard method for displaying telephone numbers is as follows. First example a number in the Netherlands National: (070) 75 11 11 -------------------------- Internat: +31 75 11 11 Second example a US number: National: 1 (201) 555-1111 ---------------------------- Internat: +1 201 555 1111 Note that above the line is the normal way a number is displayed within the country, and is the dialing sequence you would use when you were there. Below the line is how you would dial if you were in another country dialing abroad. Th sequence is: country code, area (or city) code, and local number. It does not include the numbers you need for international access, ie in the US 011 or 001. I included the example from the Netherlands, because in the US the country code is "1", and the access to the long distance network also happens to be "1". When displaying the international number, no dashes or parentheses are used.