telecom@ucbvax.ARPA (12/08/84)
From: Jon Solomon (the Moderator) <Telecom-Request@BBNCCA>
TELECOM Digest Fri, 7 Dec 84 16:39:58 EST Volume 4 : Issue 132
Today's Topics:
Automated dialers
Political polling by telephone
junk calls
Re: call forwarding
MCI Mail won't be free for long
Re: TELECOM Digest V4 #130
Forwarding..
TELECOM Digest V4 #131
Allnet ???
Introducing...
air-to-ground phone scanner freqs
950+ handling
Can anyone identify this modem?
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Date: Sun, 2 Dec 84 10:41 EST
From: "Roger A. Roach" <Roach@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Automated dialers
To: Telecom@MIT-MC.ARPA
I'm afraid that some of these dialers just call sequential numbers so
even getting an unlisted number may not protect you. I saw something in
TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEWS (July 9, 1984, pg 31) that may help. It seems
that Southwestern Bell is going to be trying out something called LASS
(Local Area Signaling Service) in Austin, TX in early 1985. This would
include a feature called "displayed calling-party number",
"customer-originated trace and nuisance call rejection" and "automatic
recall of last called or calling party". If this feature became
generally available, you could have your computer intercept the inward
call and obtain the number of the person calling you. If it was a
number in its database, it could announce who is calling you before you
pick up the phone. ("Mr. Jones is calling you from his office" or
"someone is calling you from Joe's Bar and Grill".) Then all you would
have to do is to have your computer recognize the number of the dialing
computer and answer the pauses with your favorite lines from
Jabberwocky. This is more effective way of dealing with these calls
rather than hanging up because this requires a human to listen and
ascertain that you are not buying what they are selling. If you just
hangup, the computer goes on to the next number and no human gets
involved. If their costs of monitoring these calls becomes high enough,
it will no longer be an effective way to market.
------------------------------
Date: 4 Dec 1984 1327-PST
From: Richard M. King <DKING@KESTREL.ARPA>
Subject: Political polling by telephone
To: telecom@MIT-MC.ARPA, poli-sci@RUTGERS.ARPA
As I recall, Dewey was predicted to beat Truman by a poll taken
of telephone subscribers before an election. This was inaccurate because
the set of people with telephone service was not a cross sectin of the
voting population.
In 1984, practically everyone has a phone, so this is no longer a
problem. BUT
Pollsters dial numbers at random in order to get unlisted numbers.
I have two lines in my house - one for the people and one for the
modem. We have hunting (might as well) so we often don't remember not to
answer the modem line if it rings while the listed line is not busy. Last
election we were polled on that line.
That pollster had twice as high a probability of contacting me (and
similarly situated people) as of contacting a person with a single line.
They did NOT ask us whether we had two lines, which would have enabled them
to compensate for this.
Are pollsters asking for trouble?
If some poll gets a wierd result circa 1988 or 1992 when approximately
half the population has two lines, you heard it here first!
Dick
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Date: 5 Dec 1984 08:52:47-EST
From: prindle@NADC
To: telecom@bbncca
Subject: junk calls
I recently got one of those junk calls (a builder trying to sell aluminum
siding in the guise of a survey). I absolutely could not hang up on it until
it was over (approximately 3 minutes)! Depressing the switch hook for up
to 30 seconds had no effect! I called the business office to complain and they
said it was impossible unless the CO equipment was malfunctioning. Fortunately
I was able to track down the caller via his answering service (number given
at end of survey/ad) and give him a piece of my mind on the matter. Can
someone explain how he could have caused this "can't hang up" effect?
Frank Prindle
Prindle@NADC
------------------------------
Date: 5 Dec 84 11:48:09 PST (Wednesday)
From: lynn.es@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Re: call forwarding
To: TELECOM@BBNCCA.ARPA
Call forwarding available here (Los Angeles area, Pacific Bell) comes in
two flavors: 1) forward immediately. This gives a short ring at the
forwarder, but cannot be answered there. 2) forward after 3
(unanswered) rings or if busy. Here you can answer during the three
rings, but you never even know of the arriving call if you are on the
phone already. In either type you can call out from the forwarder
phone.
It has always bothered me that they linked "unanswered" and "busy"
forwarding together. It might make sense for someone who has a
secretary who will then get the call if he doesn't answer or is already
on the phone, but in most cases, secretaries have extension phones on
the same line, so forwarding is not needed. I usually use the forward
"unanswered" for when I am going back and forth between my office and a
lab. In that case, I don't want the "busy" forward to go to the lab. I
would rather the caller got a busy tone or got forwarded to the phone
next door to my office.
/Don Lynn
------------------------------
Date: Wed 5 Dec 84 15:59:50-EST
From: Ralph W. Hyre Jr. <RALPHW@MIT-XX.ARPA>
Subject: MCI Mail won't be free for long
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
I just called them, and they said that starting January 1, there will
be an $18.00 annual mailbox fee. I was told that if I signed up now,
the fee wouldn't be assessed until my 'anniversary date' next December.
I didn't ask what would happen to current subsribers, but I presume that
they would also be grandfathered in for a while.
Are there any 'free to sign up and read messages, pay to send' mail services
left? How much will people pay per year to have an electronic mailbox?
(I won't pay $20.00 just to make myself marginally more accessible to people.)
- Ralph
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 84 12:05:38 pst
From: ihnp4!uw-beaver!tikal!teldata.shad@Berkeley (Warren Shadwick)
To: cholula!tikal!uw-beaver!cornell!vax135!houxm!ihnp4!cbosgd!ucbvax!telecom@Berkeley
Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V4 #130
In response to the four wires on a standard modular plug, I have seen
the second pair used for lamp voltages on "Princess" type telephones
with illuminated dials. Color coding at the phone (note that the
standard modular cord contains a reversal at the wall):
green - tip
red - ring
yellow - ground
black - lamp
Tip & ring are the normal transmission pair. Ground is quite often
connected and is still used on party lines for tip-to-ground or
ring-to-ground ringing. The lamp voltage requires a ten volt AC
adapter.
Warren Shadwick
Teltone Corporation
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 1984 01:20 EST
From: GZT.KEITH%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
Subject: Forwarding..
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 1984 01:57 EST
Message-ID: <GZT.KEITH.12068923644.BABYL@MIT-OZ>
From: GZT.KEITH%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA
To: TELECOM@BBNCCA.ARPA
Subject: TELECOM Digest V4 #131
In-reply-to: Msg of 4 Dec 1984 15:36-EST from Jon Solomon (the Moderator) <Telecom-Request at BBNCCA>
Call forwarding:
If the phone is ON-hook you will hear one ring. If the phone is
OFF-hook (even with call-waiting) nothing will happen. The call will
be forwarded but you will not know of it.
Keith
Also, Forwards don't seem to be able to be made to Non-Supervised
numbers (ie, numbers that don't cost; recordings, weather, time).
----
Does anyone by chance know what the "INWRD" (INWARD, next to emergency
interrupt) button on the TSPS console does. I realize it lights up if
the operator must become and inward, but it is also a button and
doesn't seem to do anything when presses (and no operator I have
talken too has ever had a reason to use it or knows what a reason
would be to use it)
------------------------------
Date: 6 Dec 84 18:16:33 EST
From: Eric <LAVITSKY@RUTGERS.ARPA>
Subject: Allnet ???
To: telecom@BBNCCA.ARPA
Hi,
I was up fairly late the past two nights, and at the same time
(around 1:30 A.M.) saw a commercial for ALLNET. Well, the first
night it really caught my attention - the commercial went something
like this:
When you hang up the phone with some long distance services
you keep paying up to a minute after you hang up the phone! Tired of
paying after you hang up?, then subscribe now to Allnet, where after
the first minute we update your bill every six seconds!
Tired of high long distance rates? Well here's something
new: long distance for free! That's right, sign up now for Allnet
long distance service and get 2 hours long distance time free
anywhere in the U.S. and even Alaska and Hawaii.
Not only that, but our rates are up to 60% lower than AT&T
and lower than many other long distance services etc etc... Call now
at 1-800-etc. etc. (I don't remember the exact number).
Well, I couldn't pass this up: I called immediately to get more
information. I got a recorded message first telling me that all the
operators were busy and then someone cam on the line telling me the
same and asking me for my name and number and that they would call
me back in a few minutes. About 20 minutes later the same fellow
called me back and said: " I'm sorry, we don't have service to your
area right now, why don't you try calling back after the first of
the year." Boy was I pissed! - are these people for real or are they
advertising stuff they don't even have? If I thought it was worth it
I'd sue them for false and misleading advertising. Their ad claimed
'service to anywhere in the USA' !!! They won't be getting my
business - I'll probably go with MCI or some such company. Has
anyone else had any experiences with Allnet?
Eric
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 84 15:26:30 pst
From: dual!fair@Berkeley
To: TELECOM@BBNCCA
Subject: Introducing...
Hello folks! Just wanted to say that Cap'n Crunch is now on line and I
can be reached Via the following Electronic address and wish to
participate in the telecom discussions (Legal!! of course). I will be
reading the digest on a USENET site just a few hops off of Berkeley:
dual!proper!crunch@Berkeley.ARPA. My land line is (415) 540-7058 so
drop me a line.
John T. Draper
[I'm just letting John send this from `dual' because `proper' has
decided to be flakey tonight. Please direct responses to the address he
gave above - Erik E. Fair]
------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 4 December 1984 14:27-EST
From: "Bob Parnass, AJ9S" <parnass@ihu1h.uucp>
Subject: air-to-ground phone scanner freqs
Anyone heard any air-to-ground telephone conversations yet?
Here's a start:
Illinois Bell Telephone, domestic public air-to-ground
[Illinois]___________ 454.6750____KSC881 (govt recds)
" [Illinois]___________ 454.9500____KSC881 (govt recds)
unidentified: air-to-ground telephone, only the aircraft side of conversation
heard, strong signals 12/3/84
[location?]__________ 459.9750_mo_callsign? (B. Parnass)
--
===============================================================================
Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414
------------------------------
From: hou4b!dwl@Berkeley (d.w.levenson)
To: Telecom-Request@BBNCCA
Date: 5 Dec 1984 16:44 EST
Subject: 950+ handling
Having used an OCC for the past year or so via a 950+ access code, I
have found several anomalies in the way it is handled from coin
phones in New Jersey. I'm wondering if others have similar
experiences or explanations.
Most coin phones allow me to dial the 950+ and do not require a coin
deposit. The rest of the call, is handled as if from a
non-coin station. Most coinless public phones work the same way!
The coin phones in Morristown go to a no-such-number recording after
only three digits, if they are 950. If I dial 1+201+950+ the call
is handled the way I would expect, from coin phones. From non-coin
"Charge-a-Call" phones, this results in a "can't be completed as
dialed" recording. Then, I can dial 0+201+950+. I wait for the
logo tone, and dial my AT&T Calling Card number. The dial tone from
the OCC is the next thing I hear, and the call is processed
normally. (No billing to the calling card results.)
The coin phones in Ft. Lee tell me a twenty-cent deposit is required.
If I deposit twenty cents and then place the call, it is handled
correctly but the coins are then collected, not returned as I would
expect. Using 1+201+950+ seems to work there, and does not ask for
coins.
Any thoughts on this?
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 84 14:37:20 pst
From: hpda!hptabu!dclaar@Berkeley (Doug Claar)
To: Telecom-Request@BBNCCA
Subject: Can anyone identify this modem?
I have a modem device that consists of a single acoustic
coupler which fits over the telephone microphone. My
understanding is that it transmits data at 1350 baud,
half duplex. Is this any kind of standard modem? If so,
can anyone tell me what the standard is, and where I might
get the receiving half?
Thank you,
Doug Claar
HP Computer Systems Division
UUCP: { {ihnp4 | decvax }!hplabs | ucbvax}!hpda!dclaar
ARPA: hpda!dclaar@ucb-vax.ARPA
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End of TELECOM Digest
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