Telecom-Request%usc-eclc@brl-bmd.UUCP (Telecom-Request@usc-eclc) (11/29/83)
TELECOM Digest Tuesday, 29 Nov 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 108 Today's Topics: Customer Name/Address French PTT's disemanation of home terminals (not "computers") Re: TELECOM Digest V3 #106 Customer Name and Address (CNA) Dow Jones via MCI Mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 83 10:56:49 PST From: jlapsley%D.CC@Berkeley (AJ76) Subject: Customer Name/Address The service mentioned in Telecom 3/107 where one can dial and get a name for a given telephone number is a bureau of the telephone company called customer name/address, or CN/A. It is normally used when somebody calls the business office wanting to know about some long distance call they don't think they made, and want to know who belongs to that number (i.e., maybe they did make it, they just don't remember the number). CN/A is not supposed to be for the customer's use, and something tells me that Ma Bell won't be too thrilled that any numbers have gotten out. Phil ------------------------------ Date: 27 Nov 1983 1207-PST From: Rob-Kling <Kling%UCI@USC-ECL> Subject: French PTT's disemanation of home terminals (not "computers") I know a little bit about the French effort through experiences in a recent visit to France and through some French academic colleagues who are studying different aspects of the telephone /terminal program. First and foremost, the program was based on an effort of the French PTT to find new work for a large software staff and also in the hopes of stimulating a French based terminal industry. The strategy reflects centralized French styles of activity and also an attempt for the PTT to maintain substantial control over resulting developments. For example, the current system is "closed" in that it is difficult to connect a terminal of a random brand to the system. I don't know the terminal standard, but it does not seem to be widely in use outside the phone setup. This is different than the "open" strategy adopted by IBM in marketing its PC and thereby stimulating a vast market of 3rd party suppliers for associated hardware, software, and even copycat ("clone") machines. It does not appear that the PTT's terminals can be easily employed for use with other systems for database inquiries. The terminals can not be expanded into a PC, for example, by having a household purchase add-on boxes and software (e.g., operating system applications). _ Consequently, the chances that the home terminals will stimulate home computer use, as have say, Apple's in the US, is much reduced. I do not know about the quality of actual phone service through the terminals. The French PTT ran an electronic mail system at IFIP'83 (Teletel) in Paris this last September. Many people tried the mail system (all registrants were given mail id s.) Few could log in; fewer still actually sent mail. The mail system stimulated alot of conversation and "communication." -- in front of the terminals where small clusters of conference participants were trying to figure it out. All the system commands and documentation were in French - at an International Conference. (After all, French is THE international language. In Paris.) The PTT specified keyboards for Teletel come in two varieties: Dvorak and a linear alphabet (A.B.C.D.E......) for hunt and peck typists. There is no QWERTY model. This, in itself, is an interesting move. The costs of trying to de-institutionalize QWERTY may well be to make the system unattractive for people who have learned to type or who must type at high speed on any other system. (This is the keyboard for promoting their new electronic mail system. I'm not sure whether the same keyboard layouts are used for the home telephone directory systems.) Teletel is NOT the directory system. However, since the PTT was showcasing Teletel at IFIP'83, I suspect that some high level official thought it was worthy of prominent display. French phone service has improved dramatically in the last 5 years. Perhaps 60% - 70% of French households have telephones. In 1970, the fraction was closer to 25-30%. (These numbers are very rough and not accurate.) Pay phones are rare compared with, say, Newport Boulevard in Newport Beach or University Avenue in Palo Alto. If you walk along a comparable commercial street in, say, Dijon, you will have trouble finding a pay phone. Usually there are a few pay phones in the downtown areas of medium sized French towns. Phone service in France is somewhat less accessable than in the US, and the French efforts are very different than what ATT would do. It is worth tracking the French efforts. While "households are getting terminals," this is not quite "the computerization of society." These French efforts provide a rich case in which central policies which spread some elements of computerization to households are deeply intertwined with cultural approaches, the attempts of a central government to stimulate segments of an internationally competitive computer industry, and the political economy of the French PTT. An interesting saga is unfolding. Most of the useful materials about these efforts are written in French. Rob Kling (Kling.uci-20b@rand-relay) ------------------------------ Date: 27 Nov 1983 1543-PST Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V3 #106 From: Ian H. Merritt <SWG.MERRITT@USC-ISIB> Marvin: The telco routing databases you asked about are described in considerable detain in the following articles: Sheinbein, D. and R. P. Weber, "800 Service Using SPC Network Capability", BSTJ Vol. 61, No. 7, Part 3, P 1737, Special issue "Stored Program Controlled Network", September 1982. Haas, C. W. et al, "800 Service Using SPC Network Capability-- Network Implementation and Administrative Functions", BSTJ Vol. 61, No. 7, Part 3, P 1745, Special issue "Stored Program Controlled Network", September 1982. Other interesting articles on related items are also found in this issue. <>IHM<> ------------------------------ Date: 28 Nov 1983 0819-EST From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO> Subject: Customer Name and Address (CNA) CNA numbers exist everywhere (sometimes one number for a multi-state region or several numbers for a multi-operating company state). The Chicago area is the only area I know of where the number is public knowledge. In other areas the number is a closely guarded secret. Private directory companies used to produce a reverse listing of this type; some may still (check your library for the city directory), but the company in this area stopped about three years ago. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Nov 83 08:51:54 pst From: jmrubin%ucbcoral.CC@Berkeley (Joel Rubin) Subject: Dow Jones via MCI Mail This service now works. One thing which you should know is that the logout word on Dow Jones is "disc"--if you got a Dow Jones account in a more usual way, you'd have this info, but with one of these subsidiary accounts, that might be a problem. Fortunately, as long as you are in //intro, you are not being charged connect time, so hanging up the phone isn't that bad. (For some reason, Mike Cane, in his "Computer Phone Book" did not give this info, and how I log out is usually the first piece of info I want to know when I use a system, especially one which costs.) ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest *********************