Telecom-Request%usc-eclc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@usc-eclc) (11/30/83)
TELECOM Digest Wednesday, 30 Nov 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 109
Today's Topics:
French Terminals
another cordboard retired
New phones and calling cards
And MCI responds...
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Date: 29 Nov 1983 0123-EST
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: French Terminals
Most of the French terminals I have seen use the French AZERTY
keyboard, since the QWERTY keyboard has never been used in France.
One would expect the instructions on how to use a French system would
be in French, especially at an international conference in Paris.
Just as most Americans expect people who come to this country to speak
English, the French expect visitors to have a knowledge of French.
I know French just well enough to get myself in trouble... but I've
found that making that effort breaks the ice, and the French are
willing to meet me half way. The French are very proud of their
language and its relationship to their culture, and are usually much
colder to someone who speaks none.
My experiences in Germany are somewhat different. I speak German
completely fluently -- but I have to lay down the law -- no English at
all -- otherwise many of my friends and co-workers (and fellow
students when I was in high school there) would use me as an
opportunity to improve their English.
Keyboards in Germany are also not QWERTY; they are QWERTZ. The Z and
the Y are reversed, since Z is a very common letter in the German
language, it would be a serious problem for it to appear in the worst
position on the keyboard. Y, however, appears only in words of
foreign origin.
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Date: Tue, 29 Nov 83 8:27:00 EST
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@brl-vld>
Subject: another cordboard retired
Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday 26 Nov., page 3A had short article
with photo about one of the last old "cord board" telephone
switchboards to be replaced shortly at Live Oak, Fla.
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Date: 29 Nov 1983 1335-EST
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: New phones and calling cards
In case you were wondering whether your next calling card would come
from AT&T or your local operating company -- the following information
appeared on an AT&T news line.
I called New England telephone to ask them what was happening, and
they said that the calling card which they issued would also be valid
until 1985, which is how long they plan to act as a billing agent for
AT&T.
Though AT&T says their card is valid from any telephone in the United
States, I wonder about calls within the LATA. And whether the new
AT&T phones can be used for calls within the LATA. I suppose AT&T can
connect with the local operating company for completion of the intra
LATA call. The operating companies will be getting the existing
Charge-a-call phones, since they are connected to operating company
exchanges and can definitely be used for intra-LATA calls or for calls
on carriers other than AT&T.
By the way, there are phones in a few places in Europe where you
insert a card which you have purchased at the local operating
authority. As the call proceeds, the card is used up.
The AT&T article follows:
-------------------------------------------------- AT&T has introduced
its new charge card and a first of its kind public phone that willallow the customer to charge calls by inserting the card into the
computerized phone.
The AT&T card customer will be able to charge calls from any telephone
in the United States and from approximately 150 foreign countries.
The company plans to mail 47,000,000 cards to its existing telephone
company calling card customers in early January.
The card caller phones will be accessible in a variety of public
places such as airports, major convention centers, and hotel lobbies.
The first are scheduled to go into service in the Greater Cincinnati
airport on January 1.
While customers will be able to use the AT&T card to charge calls from
any phone, only the new card caller phones are designed to read
billing information directly from a magnetic strip attached to the
back of the AT&T charge card.
Callers will also be able to make collect calls and third party
billing calls from these phones. The new phones will not accept
coins.
AT&T is also investiging the possibility of enabling the card caller
phone to accept major credit cards.
The AT&T card caller phones will be equipped with video display
screens to give step-by-step instructions for using the phones.
Initially these instructions will print in English. Eventually
customers will be able to select from a number of languages.
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Date: 29 Nov 1983 1630-EST
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: And MCI responds...
MCI also plans to put in their own phones -- the first ones at
Washington's National Airport next week.
They will accept Visa and Mastercard and will place calls for anyone
whether an MCI subscriber or not, at rates lower than AT&Ts. Their
own subscribers will get lower rates than non-subscribers.
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End of TELECOM Digest
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