Telecom-Request%mit-mc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@mit-mc) (02/02/84)
TELECOM Digest Thursday, 2 Feb 1984 Volume 4 : Issue 18
Today's Topics:
Communications Protecols
signing up for SBS
SBS skyline details
noisy lines
TELECOM Digest V4 #17
AT&T Communications -- 800 222-0300
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 31 Jan 1984 1440-PST
From: Kelley <BOAN@USC-ECL>
Subject: Communications Protecols
Does anyone know of a source listing all international data
communications protocols? I have a student who is doing research on
transborder data flow and he is having trouble finding a listing of
all current formats.
Thanks Kelley Boan Annenberg School of Communications USC
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 84 19:18:00 EDT
From: haddock!johnl%ima@BRL-BMD.ARPA
From: John Levine@BRL-BMD.ARPA, INTERACTIVE@BRL-BMD.ARPA,
Subject: signing up for SBS
They must have heard that I was saying nice things about them, because
yesterday in the mail arrived info on their "Sign up a friend"
program. The friend avoids the $16 signup fee and the current
subscriber gets swell free gifts.
Not being one to pass up a free Lotus Nut Dish or Cordless Pencil
Sharpener (used to be they were all cordless, no?) and considering the
entire Arpanet community to be my friends, I'll send a signup card to
anybody who sends me their U.S.Mail address.
SBS says they're available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati,
Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Worth, Houston, Los
Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York (incl. nearby NJ),
Philadelphia (incl. nearby NJ), Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco,
San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington DC (incl. MD and VA
suburbs.) Dial 950-1088, and if you get their tone, you're OK. There
are also rudimentary credit restictions; they want you to have to have
some credit card and have lived where you live for a year. You can
cancel any time with no penalty.
If you can't wait and don't mind the $16 one-time fee, call
800-235-2001.
John Levine, Levine@YALE.ARPA decvax!yale-co!ima!johnl,
ucbvax!cbosgd!ima!johnl {allegra|amd70|cca}!ima!johnl,
{uscvax|ucla-vax|vortex}!ism780!johnl
PS: On entirely another note, I spent the weekend near Woodstock VT
(802-457). Sometimes when I make a long distance call, an operator
asks me for my number, and other times not. Sometimes when I dial
0+number, it asks me to dial my calling card number, other times I go
directly to an operator. I think it's a fairly old exchange; its ring
sounds like a death rattle. What gives?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 84 23:24:00 EDT
From: haddock!johnl%ima@BRL-BMD.ARPA
From: John Levine@BRL-BMD.ARPA, INTERACTIVE@BRL-BMD.ARPA,
Subject: SBS skyline details
Several people asked for details, so here you go. There is a one
minute minumum, and 6 second increments. There are two rate zones,
states adjacent to yours and everywhere else. They go to the 48
states, Puerto Rico, and the USVI. I expect their satellite isn't
visible in Alaska and Hawaii.
Another message in this digest (or perhaps yesterday's talks about how
you sign up.
Cents/minute Adjacent Other
state states Day 8AM-5PM 25 39
Night 5PM-11PM 13 18
Late 11PM-5AM 10 14 (also any time weekends)
There is a $16 initial charge (which they didn't ask me to pay) and a
$15/month minimum after the first 30 days. Additional authorization
codes on the same bill are $4 each (once.) For $4 each you can have
your authorization code turned on in other cities than your home. If
you're away, you can have service suspended for 14 to 60 days for $4,
in which case the $15 minimum is avoided.
John Levine, decvax!yale-co!ima!johnl, ucbvax!cbosgd!ima!johnl,
{allegra|floyd|amd70}!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Wednesday, 1 Feb 1984 07:45:49-PST
From: (David Ofsevit..ZKO2-2/K29..381-2665)
From: <decwrl!rhea!glivet!ofsevit@Shasta>
Subject: noisy lines
This subject comes up often here, most recently under "Line
problems..." in Telecom 4:16.
Sometimes noisy lines can be caused by bad physical
connections. If your house is like mine, the interior phone line may
enter the house and pass through several blocks before it gets to your
phone. If somebody (like a lazy installer) once forgot to tighten the
screws on one of the blocks, you can have trouble.
I had a bad problem a while back, and it turned out that one
of the connector blocks had all of its screws loose so that the wires
were barely making contact. The bad contact was acting as a low-grade
detector, so that I kept hearing stray voices that were not other
conversations but rather local radio stations!
------------------------------
Date: 1 February 1984 11:37 EST
From: "Marvin A. Sirbu, Jr." <SIRBU @ MIT-MC>
Subject: TELECOM Digest V4 #17
A student of Jerry Saltzer (Saltzer@mit-multics) did a bachelors
thesis on the telex sending problem a couple of years ago.
MS
------------------------------
Date: 1 Feb 1984 1253-EST
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: AT&T Communications -- 800 222-0300
There is one nationwide number for calling with billing inquiries.
But if you happen to be outside your area when you call, you will be
asked to dial the specific 800 number for that area. For example, to
reach the appropriate office for my bill here in Massachusetts if I
happen to be in Washington, D.C. when I want to call, I have to call
800 341-6101.
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest
*********************