Telecom-Request%mit-mc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@mit-mc) (03/01/84)
TELECOM Digest Thursday, 1 Mar 1984 Volume 4 : Issue 29
Today's Topics:
Email in Canada
Technical Difference of Opinion on No. 2 & 5 ESS Call Waiting Design
New Newsletter on Telecommunications & the Handicapped
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Date: Tue, 28 Feb 84 07:22:16 pst
From: jmrubin%ucbcoral.CC@Berkeley (Joel Rubin)
Subject: Email in Canada
Ad from 2/84 TPUG (Toronto Pet User's Group) Magazine:
Now from Telecom Canada
The Individual User Service for Personal Computer Users
Envoy 100, the National Electronic Messaging Service Envoy 100 the
messenger of the 80's. For more information about Envoy 100 call our
toll free numbers
1-800-267-4747
(112-800-267-4747 in British Columbia)
(full page ad, with flying bird Envoy and Telecom logos) (N.B. I
haven't tried it, but I assume that, as with other Canadian 800 #'s,
this one won't work from the states.)
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Date: 28-Feb-1984 1111
From: (John Covert) <decwrl!rhea!castor!covert@Shasta>
Subject: Technical Difference of Opinion on No. 2 & 5 ESS Call Waiting
Subject: Design
The designers of No. 5 ESS and I have a "technical difference of
opinion" (as it is sometimes politely called).
Subscribers in No. 1 and 1A ESS have long enjoyed the ability of using
Call Waiting at almost any time during a conversation.
Subscribers in No. 2 ESS and many other systems, most recently, No. 5
ESS, AT&Ts new digital office, have been unable to make as good use of
call waiting, because any time a three-way conversation is in
progress, a significant amount of time for many heavy telephone users,
Call Waiting is disabled.
It seems that AT&T is convinced this is correct. It drastically
reduces the usefullness of BOTH call waiting and three way calling.
When I complained that my No. 2 ESS service did not work as well as my
No 1. ESS service, i.e. did not provide the same functionality, even
though priced the same, the replies which I received from the local
operating company (at that time a part of AT&T) were that it wasn't
supposed to work, and that the behaviour in No. 1 ESS was better than
advertised.
Here is what the latest advertisements for Call Waiting say:
Never miss an incoming call because your phone is busy. With
Call Waiting, improtant calls get through, even when you're
talking on the phone. Because if someone else is trying to
reach you, you'll hear a "beep" -- and you can put the first
call on hold while you answer the second one.
If the first call is a three-way call, in No. 2 and No. 5 ESS, this
advertisement is not correct.
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From: deepthot!julian%watmath@BRL-BMD.ARPA
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 84 05:21:25 est
From: Julian Davies
From: <decvax!clyde!watmath!deepthot!julian@BRL-BMD.ARPA>
Subject: New Newsletter on Telecommunications & the Handicapped
The IFIP WG6.5 Subgroup on "computer message systems and the
communication impaired" is publishing a newsletter to appear
quarterly. I am the editor (de facto) and the first issue has just
been mailed out to those I am aware of as likely to have a significant
interest. (Significant enough to pay $5 a year for a subscription,
that is!) I have names of those with IFIP involvement with computer
message systems. Anyone else who would like a subscription is invited
to send $5 to
Handi-Communications
Department of Computer Science,
University of Western Ontario
London Ontario CANADA N6A 5B7
I suspect that this column is mainly read by people with the computer
- telecommunications interest. If anyone can put me in touch with
organizations specifically dealing with the 'Communication Impaired'
(Blind Deaf etc) that would be concerned with computer message
systems, please send me mail. (To forstall a lot of redundancy, I do
know about the SRI/Gallaudet Deafnet, the GTE Deafnet, and the Trace
Research Lab.) Organizations with interests covering electronic mail,
etc and the handicapped OUTSIDE North America and Britain I would
particularly like to learn of.
Thanks, Julian Davies
UUCP {decvax etc}!watmath!deepthot!julian
Envoy-100 dj.davies
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End of TELECOM Digest
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