Telecom-Request%usc-eclb@brl-bmd.UUCP (08/11/83)
TELECOM Digest Thursday, 11 Aug 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 48
Today's Topics:
"Illegal" Connections To Telephone Line
Finding "Illegal" Modem Users
New Long Distance Service
Strike Info?
Local Telephone Service Bypass / C-SPAN
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Date: Sat, 6 Aug 83 20:55:43 PDT
From: Theodore N. Vail <vail@UCLA-ATS>
Subject: "illegal" connections to telephone line
In Volume 3, Issue 47 of Telecom, Lauren Weinstein refers to the
connection of a device, not certified by the FCC, to the telephone
line as "illegal". Is this literally correct or is it more of a civil
matter such as failure to pay rent, not abiding by all of the terms of
a contract, etc.? I have always thought that "illegal" referred to
criminal matters. Can you go to jail or receive a criminal penalty
for connecting a non-certified device to the telephone line? I am
assuming, of course, that the person making the connection is not
performing malicious damage.
By the way, all of the used "networks" one can buy either come from
FCC certified telephones with a certification number or from
telephones that were certified by the "Grandfather" clause which said
that all standard telephones in use on a certain date (I can't recall
the date) were automatically certified.
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Date: Sat, 6 Aug 83 22:22:01 PDT
From: jlapsley%D.CC@Berkeley
Subject: Finding "illegal" modem users
As I recall, Ma Bell has a program which can run on their #x ESS
offices (I believe called ANALIT, but I'm not sure...) which can pick
out and flag Touch-Tone (TM) digits being send on non-registered
Touch-Tone lines. I would assume that they would/could modify ANALIT
to check for the continued presence of carriers, as well. Does
anybody know if they are doing this, or if they plan to? I seem to
recall that somebody in one of the information terminal rate areas who
worked for the operating company there said that doing such things
(i.e., looking for modems) was "against company policy."
Phil
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Date: Tue, 9 Aug 83 07:14:21 PDT
From: jmrubin%Coral.CC@Berkeley
Subject: New long distance service
I saw an ad for "Thriftiphone", or something like that, another
MCI-clone gearing up for 1 January. This one is owned by NCR, ne
National Cash Register, so you may get unusual ringing, he-he. One
question with all these clones--Bell lines are often better in
quality. Come 1 January, are you going to be able to use Bell and one
other service or do you have to chose? Will Bell cost the same as the
others, and if so, will they degrade their lines to compete? (Right
now, there are numerous instances where you can use Bell long distance
with computers, but not the other guys. It depends on where you call,
of course.)
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Date: 9 Aug 83 17:39-EST (Tue)
From: Steven Gutfreund <gutfreund%umass-cs@UDel-Relay>
Subject: Strike Info?
How is the stike affecting people so far?
How many people do we have who are planning to move at the end of the
month (my situation) and thus probably don't expect phone service for
weeks?
What was the longest Bell strike in recent history, and how long can
this one go?
Are people from BTL manning the phones? I know my sister is a
marketeer with Long Lines and they got her on the lines, (they ran
special courses in the offices two weeks ago to get people ready for
this).
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Date: Tuesday, 9-Aug-83 03:19:52-PDT
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM>
Subject: Local telephone service bypass / C-SPAN
The issues of people or organizations attempting to "bypass" local
telephone service is one of the "hot" issues right now in the current
Congressional hearings regarding telecommunications. From a technical
standpoint, cellular radio could provide some useful services, but I
don't believe it could hold up if substantial numbers of persons began
using it *instead* of conventional services; the traffic volumes in
small areas would simply be too high. Even if it *were* technically
feasible, such a shift in the user base would throw a massive
monkeywrench into the already confused equations involving the support
of local telephone services. I don't even want to think about it.
Don't sit around waiting for the cable-TV companies to help. As I've
said in the past, physical plant for CATV systems varies widely, as do
forward and reverse channel capacities, technology "level", and most
other factors. Many (most?) cable-TV operators have gross problems
with system quality control, and are lucky to be able to get
marginally viewable pictures to their subscribers, much less any other
sorts of services.
I am frequently asked by audiences about the possibility of CATV
systems taking over substantial volumes of services from Telco. My
usual response (sure to get a laugh) is that "most cable-TV companies
make General Telephone look good!" It's true.
--Lauren--
P.S. For those of you with C-SPAN on your local cable systems (or who
have a personal dish pointed in the correct direction), C-SPAN is
currently running the House/Senate joint hearings on Telephone
legislation. These hearings involve technical discussions of bypass
issues, long distance access charges, disconnect rates, lifeline
services, and many other topics of interest to TELECOM readers.
Testimony is from many sources, including high level AT&T officials,
MCI, state regulatory commissions, etc. These hearing generally air
via tape-delay late at night (I was just watching one that had been
running for some time at around 3:30 AM PDT). They are extremely
interesting viewing. C-SPAN also has numerous call-in programs, some
with guests who are directly involved in telecom issues. It is
usually possible to get "through" to many of these programs with only
a modest dialing effort.
--LW--
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End of TELECOM Digest
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