TELECOM@Usc-Eclb (09/16/82)
TELECOM AM Digest Thursday, 16 September 1982 Volume 2 : Issue 119
Today's Topics: PacTel To Sell Station Equipment
Another Magneto System
Choice Of Area Codes
International Information
Autodialers And Centrex Systems
Are Logan Airport Payphones Timing Local Calls?
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Date: 13 Sep 1982 1948-PDT
From: ROODE at SRI-NIC (David Roode)
Subject: PacTel to sell station equipment
Location: EJ296 Phone: (415) 859-2774
It looks like PacTel is going ahead with the PUC mandated offer to
sell in place subscriber single-line station equipment. I saw an ad
in the local paper. This is interesting, because it was originally
motivated by PUC feeling that the subscriber might get overcharged
once the equipment was owned by a different entity than provides the
local phone service. I still wonder how they are going to resolve the
inconsistency of having the "separate" vendor of rental phone
equipment located in the offices at which people are commanded to
appear in person if they wish to order phone service.
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Date: 14 Sep 1982 0026-EDT
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: Another magneto system
Although Bryant Pond is the last Magneto Switchboard serving a real
town (with lots of drops & stuff), I've just found another magneto
subscriber system.
In Shoup, Idaho, I just talked to the owner of the Shoup Country Store,
at 24F3, which you reach from the Salmon, Idaho operator. What they
have is a one-wire, ground-return, magneto system with 18 telephones.
It is a cooperative, completely self maintained (no paid employees).
They ring each other with a series of long and short rings. The phone
number begins with "24F" which is an old Forest Service designation
for the wire (there used to be others) and is followed by the ringing
combination, long, then short, then long, etc. So 24F111 is a long,
a short, and a long. 24F0121 is a short, two longs, and a short.
Unlike Toll Stations (which I mentioned earlier) these guys are a
subscriber system and can call each other as a local call. But unlike
Bryant Pond, they don't have their own switchboard; they terminate
(similar to a toll station) on the Salmon Inward board.
Toll stations differ in that all calls placed from them are toll
calls. An example of a Toll Station is the phone at the Patrick
Creek Lodge out northeast from Crescent City, California. Their
toll station is identified as "IDLEWILD 5" -- it has its own entry
in the rate and route database.
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Date: 14 Sep 82 15:22:01-EDT (Tue)
From: Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@BRL>
cc: cmoore at BRL
Subject: choice of area codes
I have previously written of the last 2 new area codes (before 619
this Nov. in Calif.): 904 in Fla. in '65, and 804 in Va. in '73. Any
ideas on the choice of codes and of which areas within those states
got them? (904 and 804 include both state capitals.)
714 area & new 619 area will NOT have N0X and N1X, but how will local
calls across the boundary between those areas be dialed? Also, I take
it there will be a message notifying long-distance callers of the new
619 area; what of long-distance callers from 619 to trimmed-down 714?
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Date: 14 Sep 1982 at 1637-PDT
cc: Worthington at SRI-TSC
Subject: Breaking in on ongoing calls
From: worthington at SRI-TSC
When I worked on an Automatic Electric step system for a large company
overseas years ago I noticed a bank of connectors that had a few extra
relays in them to implement what the prints called "executive break
in". Special executive phones suposedly had a button that would
ground one side of their line, which in a step system comes at that
point from the connector. This would trip the relays and the busy
signal would be replaced by the call in progress. The possibility of
being broken in on was thus tied to the phone number, though anyone
who knew how to ground the line could emulate an
"executive" phone... Dave
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Date: 14 Sep 1982 2015-EDT
From: John R. Covert <RSX-DEV at DEC-MARLBORO>
Subject: International Information
Whenever I want an overseas number I just tell the operator I'm going
to direct dial the call later.
800 874-8000 is usually a bit faster than the local operator, because
what answers you is an ISPS (International Services Position System)
board (the same type that is used to actually place overseas calls).
These fancy boards have CRTs, so the operator types in the name of the
country in order to place calls. International marketing in New
Jersey hasn't really decided what all they want the operators to do
when answering the 800 number. Officially they are not supposed to
get local numbers for you, but they do seem quite willing to do so.
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Date: 15 Sep 1982 0102-EDT
From: Hobbit <AWalker at RUTGERS>
Subject: International directory
I just called the local operator, and asked if they had received word
of the 800 number for international DA. They hadn't heard a thing
about it.
Fascinating!!
The typing that was heard by <I forget who> was probably the oper in
this country keying the sequence to get to the foreign DA. That
system really makes sense; back when I was on TSPS those used to be
the real pain-in-the-rear calls, cause the overseas DA was so flakey
and rarely deigned to answer their phones. Therefore to make any
headway at all required staying on the call for about 5 minutes [which
screwed up your calls-per-hour figure something fierce].
Hooray for sensible ideas. Now all they need is a complaints
department staffed by technical wizards and customer relations people,
so we don't have to go through all this hackery to find out what we
want.
_H*
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Date: 15 Sep 82 18:47:26 EDT (Wed)
From: Steve Bellovin <smb.unc@UDel-Relay>
Subject: autodialers and Centrex systems
Cc: Jim Ellis (MCNC) <jte.unc@UDel-Relay>
We've been trying to get a UDS autodialer to reach a machine on the
Dimension PBX at Bell Labs - Holmdel. It never seems to recognize the
secondary dial-tone from the PBX; in fact, sometimes it seems to think
the ringing signal is the dial tone. At best, the signal seems weak.
On the other hand, we have no trouble getting through the Dimension at
Murray Hill. Any suggestions about what might be going on? Might we
need a programmable jack on our end? (It's on a GTE Centrex system,
at Research Triangle Institute.) Could we get away with a fixed-time
delay instead? In tests just now, it seemed to take about 10 seconds
after end-of-number to get an answer from the PBX; is that time likely
to be fairly constant? (Incidentally, does one get billed for calling
the PBX, or does billing not start until after the extension answers?)
--Steve
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Date: 15 Sep 82 20:41:58-EDT (Wed)
From: J C Pistritto <jcp@BRL>
Subject: Re: TELECOM Digest V2 #115
Last time I was at Logan airport using a pay phone, (about two weeks
ago), a strange thing happened. I made a local call to Cambridge, (a
friend of mine at MIT), and after a couple of minutes, the line
disconnected for ~5 seconds, beeped, and then reconnected. About 20
seconds later, the line disconnected TOTALLY and didn't come back.
The phone was a pay phone on the 617-659 exchange. No one at the
airport, even the employees, knew anything or had heard anything about
timed pay calls. I was going to call an operator and ask, but I was
in a hurry at the time. What gives? By the way, there was NOTHING on
the phone instructions about timing.
-JCP-
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End of TELECOM Digest
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