TELECOM@Usc-Eclb (11/29/82)
TELECOM AM Digest Monday, 29 November 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 133
Today's Topics: Customer Provided Inside Wiring
619 Area Code
1200 Baud Fdx Autodialers
Brantford, Ontario - Trivia Question
Touch Tone Decoding
Last Operator Cordboard Office in Maryland
NYC Directory Assistance (2 Msgs)
Computerized Directory Assistance Operators
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From: "ELROND::D_MITTON c/o" <Schriesheim.Mitton at DEC-Marlboro>
Date: 22-Nov-82 18:40
Subject: Comments on NET Customer-Provided Inside Wire
I transcribed the New England Telephone pamplet on CPIW because I thought
it would be basically similar to programs that may be implemented by other
operating companies. It also contains useful background info for those
who haven't played with doing your own installation.
[This pamphlet is available as
ARPANET: [USC-ECLB]BUG:<JSOL.TELECOM>SELF-SERVICE-WIRING.TXT
(FTP convention user ANONYMOUS password GUEST supported)
DEC Enet: SMAUG::USER$:[MITTON.TELECOM]USERWIRE.TXT
A copy of it will be mailed to the UUCP and CSNET distribution
addresses. If you still can't obtain a copy of this, please
mail to TELECOM-REQUEST@USC-ECLB and I will mail you one.]
Reading the document gives you a new insight on how the companies will
be treating inside wire in the future. Basically they're going to put
in a modular jack just past the protector block. All the rest of the
wire in the house will become your problem. You will be free to
fiddle with it, but if you do something wrong, it's your responsibilty
to fix it (unless you're willing to pay a service fee.) Notice, that
they now can easily lose track of the number of extensions you have
wired in.
This sort of makes sense. It allows the companies to ease out of the
installation business, where installer time and equipment is costly.
After I read this, I finally figured out what those funny looking
terminal blocks that they were selling at the Phone Store where for.
They had four screw terminals with rather prominent colored labels
(green,red,yellow,black) next to each and a 6-inch cord with a modular
plug on the end. It's your entrance block! You place it next to your
NI and wire away from there. You can also purchase modular jacks,
quad, and wire strippers, as well as the typical extension and handset
cords. All are, of course, "Genuine Bell" quality equipment.
I wish I'd known about this before I got my service installed in my
current place. NET charges an itemized installation fee that sort of
works like this:
- Central office setup charge
- Premises visit service charge
- Outside drop wiring from the pole to the house
- Installing a station wire run
- Installing a jack
For them to come out, connect and wire one jack typically cost about
$32 I had three lines (two new ones) and four jacks put in and it cost
close to $100 dollars. Not only that, but I had to talk the installer
into wiring it my way. Installers DO NOT want to do any inside the
wall wiring. He explicitly said "We don't fish walls!" They only
want to do open wiring on baseboards. I talked him into fishing my
kitchen wall phone, because the wall was open to the basement, and I
could show him that there were no electrical wires in there. As it
was, his supervisor showed up, helped him, and then said "Good fish
job, but remember, We don't fish walls!" as he left. I got him to do
the run to the third floor via an old unused heating duct (which you
could see through) and drilling between floors in a closet. It turned
out okay, but I could have saved a lot of money if I had done the
station wiring, (especially since I have recently redone it with
25-pair!) and just let him do the drop.
Sigh. Dave Mitton.
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Date: 20-Nov-82 16:59:33-EST (Sat)
From: cbosgd!mark@Berkeley (Mark Horton)
Subject: 619 area code
619 may have cut over, but from Columbus, Ohio, I cannot dial 619. I
dial the whole number and then get reorder. 714 still works. I
dialed an operator and asked what was going on, and he was barely
aware of the 619 area code. He tried the number, using 619, and it
went through. My guess is the local system somewhere has a table of
valid area codes that needs to be updated. Anybody understand it any
better? Other parts of the country having the same problem?
Mark
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Date: 20-Nov-82 19:17:23-PST (Sat)
From: amd70!pn@Berkeley
Subject: 1200 baud fdx autodialers
Does anyone know how the various autodialing 212 style modems on the
market (Bizcomp,Cermatek,Hayes,Microbaud,NEC,Omnitec,Penril,Prentice,
Omnitec,Vadic,Ventel, etc?) compare for error rates and tolerance of
noise?
I understand the Vadic 3400 protocol is much better. But the Vadic
autodialer is just terrible. How bad is 212? And does it make a
difference whose 212 you buy?
Phil Ngai
amd70!pn@ucb
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From: "ELROND::D_MITTON c/o" <Schriesheim.Mitton at DEC-Marlboro>
Date: 22-Nov-82 19:30
Subject: Trivia question
While I was driving through Brantford, Ontario last Christmas time,
I was suprised to see the slogan "The Telephone City" on the municipal
water tower. Well, I had to consult an expert, John E. McNamara, to get
the answer on why Brantford is special. There are probably a lot of you
that know, Can someone fill in some of the particular details as to why,
and when Brantford choose this slogan?
Dave Mitton.
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Date: 24 November 1982 11:11-EST
From: "Marvin A. Sirbu, Jr." <SIRBU at MIT-MC>
Subject: touch tone decoding
Does anybody know anything about decoding touch tone signals by using
an A/D converter and simply processing the signal in a microcomputer?
Has anyone seen any articles in the hobbyist magazines on this?
Marvin Sirbu
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Date: 24 Nov 82 13:02:04-EST (Wed)
From: John W Kinch (REB/VLD) <kinch@BRL>
Subject: Last Operator Cordboard Office in Maryland
The following advertisement appeared in today's issue of a local
paper.
" The Upper Bay Community Relations Team, of the Chesapeake and
Potomac Telephone Company, cordially invites you to attend an open
house to commemorate the retiring of the Last Operator Cordboard
Office in Maryland.
We hope that you will join us for this historic event.
Dates: December 2 and 3, 1982
Time: 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Place: 650 Fountain Street, Havre de Grace, Maryland"
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Date: Thu Nov 25 1982 14:58:06 PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX>
Subject: NYC Directory Assistance
Greetings. I recently had an odd experience with Directory Assistance
for the NYC area... I was curious to see if anybody out there could
shed some light on the situation:
I was trying to get the number for someone in Queens, NY. I had the
full name, including middle initial. I gave the name to the operator,
who informed me that she had no PUBLISHED listings for that name, but
did have a NON-PUBLISHED listing for the name. She then asked me what
PART of the country I was calling from (note that she did NOT ask me
the typical "what is your area code?" question that WATS directory
assistance asks.) Apparently she didn't like my answer (Los Angeles)
since she then repeated that she only had a non-published listing:
that she had an address but no phone number! I tried calling back,
got a different operator, but EXACTLY the same results.
My query: what the hell is going on out there? Since when do non-pub
subscribers show up AT ALL in directory assistance listings? And why
the questions regarding my "location"? Is there anybody out there in
the N.Y. area who can help explain these events? Thanks much.
--Lauren--
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Date: Thu Nov 25 1982 19:45:01 PST
From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX>
Subject: more on NYC Directory Assistance
I thought I'd try one more time, and, just like before, I got the same
results. This time, however, I was able to get the operator to at
least give me some idea of what was going on. It seems that the
reason they ask for your location is that if you are in the NYC
calling area, they'll give you credit for your D.A. call if the number
turns out to be unlisted. (Nice idea. Out here in California you get
charged the standard amount (is it 20 cents? I forget...) in any
case. However, we do have a pretty healthy free D.A. call allowance
[20/month/line]).
She also claimed that she actually had the listing, but simply could
not give it to me since it was marked non-pub. This is in contrast to
California, where the regular D.A. operators don't have non-pub
listings at all.
--Lauren--
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Date: 23 Nov 1982 0449-PST
Sender: GEOFF at SRI-CSL
Subject: Computer Operator.
From: the tty of Geoffrey S. Goodfellow
Reply-To: Geoff at SRI-CSL
a017 2328 22 Nov 82
PM-Computer Operator, Bjt,450
That Information Operator Is Inhuman
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Telephone users who don't let their
fingers do the walking can hear a computer do the talking when they
call directory assistance here.
Northwestern Bell's new system lets a human operator take a call,
search a computer for the number requested and then hit a button,
putting the computer on line to read the area code and number in a
slow, female voice.
The electronic voice will then repeat the number and advise
callers to stay on the line if they have a question or need more
assistance.
Bell officials say the system, now handling 70 percent of the
information requests in Iowa, Nebraska and Indiana, saves about 5
seconds a call. In Iowa alone, Bell averages 150,000
directory-asistance calls a day.
Operators, who continue to handle emergency requests, say it saves
their voices.
''I like it,'' one operator in Iowa, where the system has been
used since Sept. 1, said Monday.
''I think it's all right myself,'' said another. ''It's no extra
work.'' The operators said they were not allowed to give their names
while on duty.
A supervisor, Joyce Lutz of Des Moines, said the system helps
operators because they ''don't have to talk quite as much. It's a lot
speedier.''
The computer voice, more formally known as the Audio Response
System, will be used in other states as soon as the equipment can
installed, said Ed Mattix, Northwestern Bell's media relations
manager.
''Only a very few have complained they can't understand the
voice,'' he said. ''Some people say they'd rather talk to a live
operator rather than a computer and I guess that's to be expected.
''Some people think computers are coming along and replacing
people, but you still have to have people servicing those computers,
working with them.''
He said operators can handle more calls more efficiently. ''The
most tedious part of their job was the repetition of the numbers. This
way, they can keep going and take more calls. They stay busier and the
time goes faster,'' he said.
Many people think the computer's voice, which Mattix described as
''very understandable,'' comes from a tape recording. But it's
straight from a computer where it's generated by silicon chips.
Phone company policy allows callers to get two phone numbers from
directory assistance for each call. After receiving the first number
from the computer, the caller stays on the line and is automatically
referred back to an operator where the process is repeated.
Mattix said the use of computer voice technology has only begun.
''We've just scratched the surface,'' he said. ''Next thing, we'll
be able to talk to computers rather than sitting at a computer
keyboard like we do now. It's really amazing.''
ap-ny-11-23 0220EST
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End of TELECOM Digest
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