TELECOM%usc-eclb@brl-bmd.UUCP (07/08/83)
TELECOM AM Digest Thursday, 7 July 1983 Volume 3 : Issue 34
Today's Topics: ACS Weirdy!
Modem Charges
Computio
N.Y. Area Codes
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Date: 30 Jun 1983 21:11-PDT
Sender: GEOFF@SRI-CSL
Subject: ACS weirdy!
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
A friend of mine who owns a microcomputer software store in Brea, Ca,
has three business lines on a rotary (714-671-1091,2,3). On a recent
visit to the area, i had the need to place some long distance calls
from his store and found out something really weird. When I placed a
calling card call on his main number, 714-671-1091, the operator came
on and collected my calling card number. BUT, when I placed calls on
671-1092 or 671-1093 lines, I got the magic gong and was able to touch
tone in my card number.
Any ideas why one line would not have ACS, but the other two would?
Bug or Feature?
[ACS only works from Touch Tone lines. Are all the lines Touch Tone? I
suspect that the line which ACS doesn't work on is not configured for
Touch Tone. If this is a bug (i.e. you should have Touch Tone (tm) on
all lines), then your repair service should be able to fix it. --JSol]
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Date: 5 Jul 83 07:04:04 PDT (Tue)
From: jmrubin%Coral.CC@Berkeley
Subject: modem charges
S.W. Bell is enforcing a tariff rule in Oklahoma which
requires users of modems, residential or business, to pay a special
"information terminal rate" which, needless to say, is about 5 times
the normal residential rate and does not include the right to an IEEE
data quality line. (They just want information terminal money, not to
provide information terminal service.) In Texas, there is a similar
rate, but the Texas PUC exempted residential users from it, after
hearing testimony from hobbyist BBS operators.
For more information, if you have access to Compuserve, look in the
Computers and Electronics data base. (page cem-450, data base 0)
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Date: 6 Jul 1983 11:15-PDT
Sender: GEOFF@SRI-CSL
Subject: Computio.
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
n525 0103 04 Jul 83
BC-COMPUTIO-07-04
By Daniel Rosenheim
(c) 1983 Chicago Sun-Times (Independent Press Service)
CHICAGO - What do you get when you marry a portable radio with a
computer?
A facile answer would be an electronic office that fits in your
pocket. But glibness aside, that is a not-unreasonable description of
the hand-held, radio-equipped computer terminals being introduced by
suburban Schaumburg-based Motorola.
The idea is not to listen to punk rock while calculating your
expense account. Rather, Motorola believes the system will extend
corporate computer networks to employees in the field - no
telephones, no modems, no wall plugs needed.
The product is the next logical step in the spreading field of
distributed data processing. Its market potential is estimated in the
billions of dollars.
''To our knowledge, this is a first,'' said Edward F. Staiano, vice
president and general manager of Motorola's communications systems
division. ''It is the intersection of two technologies: radio
frequency transmission and data processing.''
As computer technology has blossomed in the last few years, so has
the portable computer terminal using telephone lines to communicate
with a centrally located main computer. Such portable computers have
been commanding both steadily growing market share and attention.
But Motorola's product bypasses the telephone in favor of an
''over-the-air'' computer communications network.
A key element in the system is a battery-operated computer terminal.
So small that it can be held in the hand, the terminal weighs a mere
28 ounces - yet it contains a two-way radio, an internal antenna and
intelligence in excess of many personal computers.
With it, users can communicate with central computers without being
tethered to a telephone line.
IBM, which helped develop the system, plans to use it to establish a
nationwide radio communications system for its field personnel in 250
cities.
The system will allow IBM service personnel, armed with portable
terminals, to communicate via computer while commuting, traveling
between locations or working at a customer's office.
Field testing of the IBM system will begin in October in Chicago,
with completion of the testing phase expected by the next February.
Meanwhile, Motorola has begun selling the system on the open market.
With just one base station, the portable unit has a range of five to
10 miles, depending upon conditions.
But Motorola envisages the establishment of multiple, adjacent base
stations, which would greatly extend the range.
Unlike proposed ''cellular'' radio systems, which are being
established to allow lengthy voice transmission, the portable
computer system is constructed for frequent but brief data
communications.
While the average cellular radiotelephone call is expected to last
more than 100 seconds, the maximum transmission time for the computer
terminal is one second, and the longest message is 256 characters.
Because messages will be brief, Motorola believes it will be able to
support at least 1,000 terminals on a single channel without
interference.
To some degree, Motorola may end up selling portable terminals at
the expense of another market it dominates: telephone pagers. But,
notes Staiano, paging permits only a one-way voice communication,
while the terminals permit two-way computer links.
''We don't see the terminal as a replacement business, but as a
significantly new product,'' he said.
Motorola won't comment on the value of its contract with IBM, but
Staiano said the total market for such systems is expected to hit
several million units over the next 10 years.
With each unit expected to sell at between $2,000 and $4,000, the
market easily translates to several billion dollars. And although
competitive products are sure to be developed, Motorola's 67 percent
current share of the market for mobile communications equipment on
land gives the company an inside track from the start.
Finally, while the initial systems are expected to be developed for
use by business, Staiano said a market could develop by the end of
the decade for sale to individuals, who might want to use the
portable units to get access to computerized news services and other
data bases.
END
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Date: 7 Jul 83 12:45:09 PDT (Thu)
From: jmrubin%Coral.CC@Berkeley
Subject: N.Y. Area Codes
As I recall, the one area which might really have trouble with
an area code split between Manhattan and the outer Boroughs is Marble
Hill, especially the large city housing project there. Marble Hill is
north of the Harlem River canal, but it straddles the old City line,
between Manhattan and what was Westchester County (and is now the
Bronx). As far as the post office is concerned, it all has the same
(Bronx) zip code, but the county line runs right through the grass in
the housing project.
I think there are some zip codes which are split between 516
and 212, along the Queens-Nassau city line, now, in the postal cities
of Jamaica (Belrose), Floral Park (Glen Oaks) and New Hyde Park. (Of
course, people who live in Iowa with an Iowa area code and an Omaha
zip code will find this trivial.)
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